Amid yet more reports of a deal to end the unrest, many Yemenis argue what they really need is a new revolution, says Nasser Arrabyee Attempts by the US-backed and Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to strike a deal to transfer power from President Ali Abdullah Saleh have stalled more than once. GCC chief Abdel-Latif Al-Zayani ended yet another three-day consultation -- this time in Sanaa -- with the Yemeni parties claiming another tentative deal between the opposing forces. After a week of mounting death tolls of demonstrators and deteriorting security, on Wednesday, Saudi satellite TV Al-Arabiya broke the news that Yemen's political rivals agreed once again to sign a deal. The opposition expressed doubts and the protests continue, though the majority of protesters seemed to be convinced that more marches to government buildings will just cost them more lives and injuries, after two previous failed marches to occupy the state-run TV and the Cabinet building on 27 April and 11 May, and are staying put these days. Some protesters are already reflecting on the reasons behind the failure or at least stalling of their popular uprising. In a conference held by two big groups, the Future of Justice, and the Civil Alliance for Youth Revolution, to assess the uprising after more than 100 days, the participants confirmed that Yemen needs another revolution to correct the mistakes committed intentionally or unintentionally. Lawyer Ahmed Al-Wadi, who participated in the conference in the sit-in square at the gate of Sanaa University earlier in the week, said, "If we want to succeed, we should confess that we are now in urgent need for another revolution to correct the path of this failed revolution." Ahmed Saif Hashid, MP and one of the prominent leaders of the anti-Saleh protests, said, "Saleh is not stronger than Mubarak or Bin Ali, but the revolution has been stolen by backward forces working for the interest of Saleh. The regional and international community has become very worried about the Salafi discourse of the revolution," Hashid added. The young protester Jalal Sailan said, "Before 18 March the revolution was going in the right way, but after that it started to go in the wrong way. The parties, especially the Islamist party, and those who defected from the army were behind the stalling or the failure of the revolution." Belqiss Lahabi, a prominent protester, said the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is playing a big role to thwart the revolution by leading and supporting the GCC deal. "Saudi Arabia does not want any democratic revolution for us, it wants Yemen to stay meekly in its backyard," she said. Some observers predict a civil war in Yemen if the Yemeni conflicting parties refused to sign and implement the GCC deal. President Saleh said the army would not keep watching idly if protesters did not stop trying to storm the government institutions. "Enough, enough playing with the fire, stop sabotage acts, or the army and people behind it will use force to protect the public institutions," Saleh told more than one million of his supporters in Sabeen Square after the Friday sermon. These developments came after both sides declared their readiness for confrontations. The spokesman of the opposition parties, Islamist leader Mohamed Qahtan threatened to "remove the regime and arrest its leaders". The ruling party responded to that statement by saying, "the opposition would commit a suicide" if they turned violent and started any confrontation. The Saleh supporters threatened to fight back against anti-Saleh protesters if the latter tried to storm government buildings. In statements on Facebook, pro-Saleh young people who have their own sit-in camps in three places in Sanaa, threatened to storm the commercial companies and villa of the Islamist leader and billionaire Hamid Al-Ahmar, who is accused of funding and orchestrating the anti- Saleh protests. They would do this "to reveal to the Yemeni people who were the real thieves, who stole the wealth of the nation in the name of the religion and in the name of the tribe," said one of the statements. "Tens of thousands of young people are ready to march forward and storm the Saba phone company, Islamic bank, and all Al-Ahmar's establishments and houses," the pro-Saleh young people threatened. The headquarters of the Islamist party and the university of Sheikh Abdel-Majid Al-Zandani will also be stormed, according to the statements. The calls for marching forward and occupying government buildings in Sanaa have often ended with bloody confrontations. About 10 protesters were killed and several others injured late Thursday when angry and disappointed protesters decided to storm the cabinet building. These calls also divided the protesters and opposition parties into two groups, portending the forces that could spark a second revolution. Half of both sides are supporting the call for marching and occupying, and the other half are refusing to escalate the confrontations, fearing civil war and endless violence. "The real revolutionaries who are with us will start right now marching to the cabinet and radio buildings, and those who are with the coward parties will stay in their place," said Tawakul Karman, in the middle of the sit-in square at the gate of Sanaa University just minutes before the march towards the headquarters of the government last Wednesday. Other leaders, from the same party of Tawakul and the Islamist party Islah that lead the anti-Saleh protests, immediately took the microphone and said, "This march is not planned, and we are not responsible for it." About 2,000 protesters followed Tawakul but they were stopped by the troops of the anti- Saleh General Ali Mohsen. The shooting that followed and led to the deaths was at the eastern exit of the protesters camp, behind the Kuwait hospital. "The first shooting came from Ali Mohsen's troops, from soldiers I know very well, the soldiers I always greet when I get in and get out," said the protester Najeeb Abdel-Rehman Al-Sadi, who was among the first marchers. Arwa Othman, like Tawakul, a leading woman activist, criticised her colleague Tawakul for leading the protests to that bloody incident. "Unfortunately, some of us lead naive protesters to massacres to build their own fame; they like to be stars on the dead bodies," said Arwa. Senior officials from the Islamist party also rebuked Tawakul and held her responsible according to some partisan officials. Many protesters started to put Tawakul on trial. She became one of the most famous female activist in Yemen for calling on protesters to march to the presidential palace to force Saleh out, causing a lot of embarrassment to her conservative party that imposes many restrictions on women. Her Islamist party Islah, for instance, does not allow women to run for elections. However, protest leader Adel Arrabyee said what Tawakul does in disagreement with her party is in fact a tactic to gain more and more supporters for her party. "Tawakul would not have gone to that march if her party Islah had not give her a green light. I mean Islah could have prevented Tawakul and the march," said Arrabyee.
