Yemeni women stage rare protest in rebel-held capital

Sana’a: Hundreds of Yemeni women are protesting in the country’s militia-held capital over a shortage of gasoline.

It’s a rare sign of dissent against the Al Houthi group that overran Sana’a in September.

Protester Onisya Mahfouz says Friday’s protest started at a women-only gas station when a station official told some 500 waiting women there was no fuel. Mahfouz says a fight broke out and a woman slapped the official, who detained her and four others.

The women staged an impromptu sit-in, burning tyres and demanding the detained women be released. They accused the militia of withholding subsidised gasoline.