SANA'A: Amidst the failure of yet another attempt by the UN to push forward a peaceful resolution to Yemen's growing popular uprising by easing decades long President Ali Abdullah Saleh out of office, protesters in the streets proved they had lost nothing of their vigor and enthusiasm. From Aden to Taiz, passing through Ibb, al-Baydah and Sana'a, the capital, hundreds of thousands of citizens rose against their leader calling for his demise and sanctions against not only his person, but all those who are still supporting him. Banners could be seen bearing anti-regime slogans as well as condemnations for the repressive methods used against protesters. Over the past few weeks, Yemen was shook by a wave of unprecedented violence as women and children became the targets of snipers in Taiz. For days, the second largest Yemeni city was shelled and assaulted by the regime forces, leaving many families to feel the burden of grief as casualties started mounted up. Scenes were caught on camera of women being gunned down while praying; children were rushed to al-Rawdha hospital injured by shelling or wounded by bullets, left bleeding in their fathers' arms, whose distress was unbearable to watch. Emboldened by the Arab League decision against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Yemenis are now calling on their fellow Arabs to step up against Saleh and impose sanctions against his person and his government. “Arab League, we demand the freezing of (Yemeni) membership,” chanted the protesters. As a march progressed throughout the streets of the capital, Sana'a, the Security Forces started shooting in the air, warning the crowd that they were ready to oppose them. In Taiz, where UN envoy Jamal Benomar was scheduled to visit, marches were also staged in reaction to the regime's many violations to human rights committed in the city since the beginning of the revolution. BM
