Sana’a, March 19: Two ruling party lawmakers have resigned in Yemen in protest at the monarchy’s brutal crackdown, which has injured several protesters in its latest episode.
Thousands poured into the streets in Yemen on Saturday despite a state of emergency imposed by the government. At least seven people were wounded after police opened fire on the demonstrators in the southern city of Aden.
Meanwhile, two prominent members of Yemen’s ruling party — Nasr Taha Mustafa and Mohamed Saleh Qara’a — resigned to protest the massacre of anti-government demonstrators the previous day.
Mustafa, the head of the state news agency, said, “I find myself compelled to submit my resignation … after the heinous massacre in Sana’a yesterday … Nothing can justify the deaths of scores of youths whose only sin was to exercise the freedom guaranteed by Islam and the constitution to demand change.”
Qara’a has called the violence, “completely unacceptable.”
On Friday, forces loyal to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh shot and killed 52 anti-government protesters in the capital, sparking the resignation of Tourism Minister Nabil Hasan al-Faqih and the head of the party’s foreign affairs committee. Hundreds of others were injured in the unrest.
that the regime snipers shot protesters in the head and neck from rooftops.
Security has been tightened across Sana’a following Friday’s bloodshed, with tanks and soldiers moving into the streets. Checkpoints have been set up to enforce a ban on carrying firearms.
The Yemeni opposition says it is determined to move forward with its peaceful revolution until the fall of the regime.
—-Agencies