Sana'a - Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis descended on Sana'a in a show of support for ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, whose party is on Thursday marking 35 years since its founding. The rally comes amid reports that armed supporters of Saleh and the head of the country's Houthi rebels had spread throughout the capital as tensions are rising between the two sides. Demonstrators packed into Sabaeen Square, waving the flag of Saleh's General People's Congress and carrying pictures of the 75-year-old leader. Travelling from provinces across the country, Yemenis made their way into the capital, pouring into the streets around Sabaeen in a show of force for the ex-president. Saleh ruled Yemen from its unification in 1990 until his resignation under local and regional pressure in 2012. Tension between Saleh and Abdul Malik al-Houthi, chief of the Iran-backed rebels, is at an unprecedented high. The two have publicly accused each other of treason in recent days, with Saleh hinting his allies were merely "a militia" and the rebels warning the former president he would "bear the consequences" of the insult.
