Tens of
thousands of supporters of Yemen’s Shiite rebels demonstrated in the
capital Sanaa on Wednesday, threatening escalation which their leader
vowed would be “painful”, an AFP correspondent reported.
“The people want the government out,” chanted
protesters gathered in Sanaa’s northern district, shunning a plea by
President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi on Tuesday for the rebels to disperse.
“We will not back away. Our people will step
up the pressure,” they called out, waving flags of the General People’s
Congress — the party still headed by former president Ali Abdullah
Saleh.
The protesters, rallying on a road leading to
Sanaa airport, brandished portraits of Syria’s embattled president
Bashar al-Assad and of Hassan Nasrallah, head of the Shiite Lebanese
militia Hezbollah, an AFP correspondent said.
Shiite rebel leader Abdulmalik al-Huthi on
Tuesday threatened a “third phase of escalation”, pledging it will be
“more painful and worrying” to authorities.
Three days of talks last week between
authorities and the Zaidi Shiite rebels, known as Huthis or Ansarullah,
failed to reach a deal to end the impoverished country’s latest
political impasse.
Huthi’s followers want the resignation of the
government they accuse of corruption, the cancellation of a recent fuel
price rise and a broader political partnership.
The rebels have mobilised armed fighters
camped out around Sanaa for the past week, while civilian activists have
staged a sit-in near the interior ministry inside the capital.
Huthi announced last Friday the start of the
“second phase” of escalation during which his supporters set up camps on
the road where several ministries are located.
The fresh threats came after President Hadi
urged Huthi on Tuesday to withdraw his militant followers from the
capital following the failure of the negotiations.
UN special envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar has
said the situation is “very worrying” and warned all sides that “a way
out of the crisis is through concerted and peaceful effort”.
The impoverished country has been locked in a
protracted transition since long-time strongman Saleh was forced from
power in February 2012 after a deadly 11-month uprising.
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