Sana’a: The situation in Yemen remained tense on Monday following clashes on Sunday between Al Houthi rebels and security forces. Yemeni security forces briefly broke up a sit-in by Shiite rebels blocking the capital’s airport road on Sunday, only to have protesters return and keep the main highway closed after the first violence of a weeks-long anti-government protest.
Using water cannons, bulldozers and tear gas, security forces charged at hundreds of protesters, who responded by throwing rocks, security officials said. One person died in the clashes, local hospital officials said, while dozens suffered from overexposure to tear gas.
At one point, protesters commandeered a bulldozer, a water cannon truck and an armoured vehicle from the security forces, a witness said, adding that one protester snatched a machine gun from a soldier on an armoured vehicle near the Interior Ministry, also on the airport road. Troops fired several warning shots in the air.
The Al Houthi rebels had earlier escalated their protests by moving to the road leading to the strategic airport, setting up tents near the Communications Ministry and blocking traffic into Sana’a from the south and west.
They have been demanding that the government resign and reinstate fuel subsidies. Negotiations have failed to diffuse the standoff.
After clashes that lasted for nearly an hour, security forces pulled back to the nearby Interior Ministry, while protesters rebuilt some of the fallen tents. A security official said the road to the airport was once again blocked when protesters erected their tents again.
A senior government official said high-level talks between the rebels and the authorities were ongoing to calm the situation.
Al Houthi spokesman Mohammad Abdul Salam said in a statement that the attempts to disperse the sit-in will only deepen the crisis, describing it as a “foolish act”.
Other sit-ins by the rebel supporters remained in place around Sana’a near several government ministries. Armed Al Houthis have moved from their stronghold in the northern Saada province to the outskirts of the capital in recent days to support them.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorised to speak to the media, while the witness did so for fear of retribution.
The Shiite rebels — camping out for nearly three weeks in Sana’a — have only added to the woes of the country, already struggling with one of the most dangerous offshoots of Al Qaida. Fresh clashes on Sunday prompted some families not to send their children to the first day of the new academic semester, for fears over their safety and in anticipation of further violence.
The Al Houthis have been calling for the government to resign and reinstate fuel subsidies. But when Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi dismissed his Cabinet on Tuesday and promised to appoint a new premier within a week in a move to offer concessions, the rebels only escalated protests.
Fuel prices nearly doubled after the subsidy cuts, but the reaction on the street was limited when it was announced in July. Opponents say the Al Houthis are using the issue as a cover and just want to seize power. Hadi accuses them of doing the bidding of regional Shiite powerhouse Iran.
The Al Houthis waged a six-year insurgency that officially ended in 2010. The following year, the country was convulsed by an Arab Spring-inspired uprising that eventually forced longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down as part of a US-backed deal that gives him immunity from prosecution.
Meanwhile, on Monday tribesmen attacked Yemen’s main oil export pipeline, halting the flow of crude, officials told Reuters.
Yemen’s oil and gas pipelines have been repeatedly sabotaged by tribesmen feuding with the state, especially since mass protests against the government created a power vacuum in 2011, causing fuel shortages and slashing export earnings for the impoverished country.
The stability of Yemen is a priority for the United States and its Gulf Arab allies because of its strategic position next to top oil exporter Saudi Arabia and shipping lanes, and because it is home to one of Al Qaida’s most active wings.
Saboteurs blew up the pipeline near the Wadi Abida production field in central Marib province. The state-run Safer oil company owns the pipeline, which leads to the Red Sea.
Heavily-armed tribes carry out such assaults to extract concessions from the government — to provide jobs, settle land disputes or free relatives from prison.
A Yemeni oil official speaking off the record said the line could be repaired in one or two days if tribesmen allowed it.
In December, Yemen said oil was being pumped through the pipeline at a rate of around 70,000 barrels per day (bpd). The pipeline used to carry around 110,000 bpd of Marib light crude to Ras Isa on the Red Sea.
