SANA'A: As protesters in Yemen gathered for yet another Friday of protests, the tone was certainly different from other Fridays as this time the nation came together to condemn the government violence against women and children. Dubbed the “Friday of Female Martyrs of the Revolution” hundreds of thousands of Yemeni nationwide joined in in their stand against what they see as a betrayal of the regime's duty towards its most vulnerable citizens. “Our women and children are our most precious treasures and Saleh has been murdering them. We will not let him continue, the nation will not let him continue. He will have to answer to his crimes, in this life or the next,” a protester told Bikyamasr.com in Sana'a, the capital. As in the past few weeks banners were held high, demanding the regime and most particularly President Saleh to be tried for crimes against humanity. Although such demands were made many times since the beginning of the uprising in February, never were they so insistent. Yemen as a whole is demanding reparations for the crimes which were committed, categorically refusing that Saleh and his regime be granted illegal immunity from future prosecution as the nation argue that no tyrant should be allowed to walk free after murdering its people. “We do not recognize the validity of an immunity clause. We will refuse any agreement which allows him to get away with it,” said a group of Youth who had scribbled their demands for trial onto their chest in red ink. In the capital, the Imam in 60 Street, the main rallying ground for the revolutionaries, urged the Arab League to freeze Saleh's membership at the Council in a similar move as what was done in regards to Syria. “We urge the Arab League to freeze Yemen's membership, as it did with the Syrian regime, and recognize the National Council as the legitimate representative.” When asked what they thought about the current negotiation rounds supervised by UN envoy Benomar regarding a power-transfer in Yemen, many protesters responded that they had lost faith in any political solution as they knew Saleh would never step down willingly. Furthermore, they stressed that even if the president did agree to ink the proposal, Yemen would never let him walk away from the killing of innocents. BM
