Thursday, February 17, 2011

Fomenting People Power II

Three more people have been killed in Bahrain so far. Onto the next country.

YEMEN
Fun Facts
  • North Yemen got rid of its extension to the Ottoman Empire in 1918, while South Yemen saw the withdrawal of the British in 1967
  • United the north and south territories to form the Yemen of today in 1990
  • Capital city is San'aa
  • 40% of the population live on less than two US dollars a day
  • Qat is a mildly narcotic leaf chewed by Yemenis to while away the time. Getting stoned is better than constant reminder of living in one of the poorest Arab nation.
  • Cultivates mocha
  • Less than a tenth of the roads are paved
Call for reform: President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been in power for 32 years. The government is corrupt. The people want him out understandably. Plus the economy is shit.

Demure response: The President graciously announced that he will not run for presidency again when his term finishes in 2013. Protest all you want Yemenis! He also ruled out his son inheriting power, but protesters naturally don't believe him.

20000 people showed up for the Day of Rage which started the 27th of January.

So far, there's been a lot of clashes between pro-government supporters and anti-government demonstrators. The pro-govs are joined by plainclothes police naturally who use violence to disperse the crowd.

Epicenter Tahrir-style: None. The government closed down public squares (one coincidentally called Tahrir) to prevent media from linking the protests to what went down in Cairo.

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