Gulf | Yemen
Yemen opposition vows to continue peaceful struggle
Leaders of Yemen's main opposition parties said yesterday they would continue their peaceful struggle for rights and liberties despite the government's measures to "terrorise" their activists.
- By Nasser Arrabyee, Correspondent
- Published: 22:30 April 2, 2008
- Image Credit: EPA
- Yemeni protesters set tyres on fire during riots in Yemen's southern city of Dhalae.
Sana'a: Leaders of Yemen's main opposition parties said yesterday they would continue their peaceful struggle for rights and liberties despite the government's measures to "terrorise" their activists.
Leaders of the three main opposition parties - the Islamists, Socialists and Nasserites - gathered in the headquarters of the Socialist party in Sana'a in solidarity with politicians, mainly socialists, who were arrested on Tuesday. Authorities accuse them of inciting riots and violence during protests in the some of the southern provinces. The leaders demanded an immediate release of all detainees on the background of the protests.
"The detentions were an expression for a new trend aimed at striking the peaceful democratic project," said Yassen Saeed No'man, Secretary General of the Yemeni Socialist Party.
"The goal of this sit-in is to adhere to our peaceful democratic project," No'man said.
The opposition parties said they regretted the riots and violence which accompanied the protests over the last two days, blaming security authorities for not preserving law and order.
"The full emptiness of security has turned the angry protests into a state of regretful riots and violence," the opposition alliance said in statement.
The government said that "lawbreakers and subversive elements made acts of sabotage and riots and attacked innocent citizens and damaged public and private property".
Meanwhile, AP quoted a Yemeni security official as saying that one demonstrator was killed and four others were wounded in fierce clashes with the military in the country's south.
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