Yemen’s revolution: The lack of public reasoning. The sound of heart beats was deafening in Sanaa’s 20th street when protestors moved in the demonstration’s forefront. Around 15 snipers were positioned on rooftops on two sides of Dairi street intersection with 20th street. Protestors planned on Friday, March 18th, to expand the sit-in area and to erect new tents at the intersection. Members of the National Security Intelligence Service aided by plainclothes security men burned rubber tires thinking to foil the expansion plan. They were mistaken. Eye witnesses said later that the front line demonstrators kept moving forward even though they met sniper bullets with their bare chests, one row after the other, until the crowd captured the snipers. After all and despite their weapons and specialized training the snipers were unable to defeat protestors solely armed with passion and desire for freedom. This incident, dubbed “Bloody Friday”, tipped over the balance in Yemen’s uprising. It changed the international community’s attitude towards the regime. Until 15th March, the president, Ali Saleh, who played the card of being the only force able to contain “Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula”, was their man in Yemen.
Perhaps this is one of the reasons why toppling the regime is taking much longer than it did in Tunisia and Egypt. It seems that the west, mainly the US, has not yet identified their new man in Yemen. Nevertheless, the international rhetoric on Yemen, especially from Germany has been quite outspoken against Saleh since then, condemning his acts of violence. It was the killing of nearly 60 protestors on March 18th that qualified Saleh to be amongst the Arab leaders to be removed.
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Nadia Al Sakkaf/ Chief Editor of the Yemen Times - (Short Bio)