YEMEN: Anti-government protesters demand President Saleh leaves office immediately as he refuses to sign Gulf-mediated transition of power deal

Record ID: 1535206

  • Title: YEMEN: Anti-government protesters demand President Saleh leaves office immediately as he refuses to sign Gulf-mediated transition of power deal
  • Date: 2nd May 2011
  • Summary: SANAA, YEMEN (MAY 1, 2011) (REUTERS) PAN LEFT SHOWING VARIOUS DEMONSTRATORS IN TAGHYEER SQUARE. WIDE ANGLE OF THE PROTESTORS HOLDING POSTERS SHOWING A MARTYR AND THEIR NATIONAL FLAGS. THE BODY OF A PROTESTER WHO WAS WOUNDED LAST WEDNESDAY AND DIED OF HIS WOUNDS YESTERDAY NIGHT, BEING CARRIED INTO THE SQUARE PROTESTER CHANTING: "We don't want a killer president or a liar, we want a clean president, with honesty, who has dignity and who admires his people's dignity, he's an ignorant president (referring to Saleh)." CLOSE OF HANDS, TATTOO READING IN ARABIC " LEAVE". VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS DEMANDING THE DEPARTURE OF SALEH AND END OF THE REGIME VARIOUS OF FEMALE PROTESTERS. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FEMALE PROTESTER, HANA' YAHYA, SAYING: "The ball is in the Gulf countries' court, especially Saudi Arabia. When the coalition meeting reserved some items of the initiative, especially not forming a national government and ending the protest, Saudi Arabia pressurised and forced them to accept this initiative. Now we will see what the Gulf Co-operation Council, and especially Saudi Arabia, will do with Saleh. Will they do with Saleh the same deal as with the coalition meeting? And this will show the real issue -- do they want the initiative to succeed or not? " WOMEN CLEANING THE SQUARE. WOMEN IN THE SQUARE VARIOUS OF MEN WALKING OUT OF A TENT WITH OMAR AL-QUSHAYBI. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PROTESTER, OMAR AL-QUSHAYBI, SAYING: "The Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh is well known as a player. Every day in the morning and the evening he's saying something different. He's well known as a liar, and can't represent the people." CHILD HOLDING HER MILK BOTTLE AND ON THE BOTTLE WRITTEN IN ARABIC, "LEAVE SO WE CAN GET THE MILK". WIDE SHOWING DEMONSTRATORS DANCING AND CHANTING SLOGANS.
  • Embargoed: 17th May 2011 00:45
  • Keywords: Yemdunc
  • Location: Yemen, Yemen
  • Country: Yemen
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVASBV2LTNVWMH79GBH1C3BJ327
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: Protesters in Yemen's capital Sanaa said on Sunday (May 1) they will stay on the streets until President Ali Abdullah Saleh leaves. They also renewed calls for him to be put on trial for corruption and the deaths of an estimated 144 protesters.
    Some protesters carried aloft the body of one of their colleagues who was wounded on Wednesday (April 27) and died from his wounds last night (April 30).
    "The Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh, is well known as a player. Every day in the morning and the evening he's saying something different. He's well known as a liar, and can't represent the people," said protester Omar al-Qushabyi.
    One protester chanted: "We don't want a killer president or a liar, we want a clean president, with honesty."
    The ongoing protests come as a Gulf-brokered deal to ease Saleh out of power teetered on the brink of collapse after he refused to sign, raising the threat of increased instability in the Arabian Peninsula state.
    The pact would have made Saleh, a shrewd political survivor who has been in power for 33 years, the third ruler ousted by a wave of popular pro-democracy uprisings sweeping the Arab world. He had been due to sign the deal on Saturday (April 30).
    "Now we will see what the Gulf Co-operation Council, and especially Saudi Arabia, will do with Saleh. Will they do with Saleh the same deal as with the coalition meeting? And this will show the real issue -- do they want the initiative to succeed or not?" said protester Hana' Yahya A Gulf source said a formal signing ceremony in Riyadh on Sunday in which the opposition had been due to seal the deal after Saleh signed in Sanaa was postponed. The source gave no word on when or whether it might be rescheduled.
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