March 22 (Bloomberg) -- Protesters in Yemen reasserted their calls for an end to the three-decade rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh after the country’s army said it would block any coup attempts.
“Leave, leave!” chanted demonstrators at Taghyeer Square in Sana’a, the site of a massacre by pro-regime gunmen four days ago. The internal revolt against Saleh brought new defections today, with ambassadors to Egypt and the Arab League becoming the latest diplomats to join the opposition movement, according to Al Arabiya television.
Opposition efforts to oust Saleh, a U.S. ally against al- Qaeda, have intensified since the March 18 crackdown against protesters, which left at least 46 people dead and scores injured in the capital as police and snipers opened fire in the worst violence since the unrest started two months ago.
The killings prompted senior military officers including Ali Muhsin al-Ahmar, commander of the first armored division, and Mohammed Ali Muhssein, commander of the eastern region, to switch sides and led three ministers, dozens of members of parliament and several diplomats to quit Saleh’s regime.
Yemen’s army units have taken up positions around key government buildings and bank offices in Sana’a, without intervening against protesters. The army said in a statement that it won’t permit a “coup against democracy.”
Saleh said yesterday that those calling for “chaos, violence, hatred and vandalism” are the minority and that most people support the constitutional legitimacy of his government.
The U.S. has backed Saleh with about $300 million a year of military and economic aid. Ben Rhodes, the U.S. deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, said yesterday that the country needs “a government that is more responsive to the Yemeni people.”
--Editors: Ben Holland, Jennifer Freedman.
“Leave, leave!” chanted demonstrators at Taghyeer Square in Sana’a, the site of a massacre by pro-regime gunmen four days ago. The internal revolt against Saleh brought new defections today, with ambassadors to Egypt and the Arab League becoming the latest diplomats to join the opposition movement, according to Al Arabiya television.
Opposition efforts to oust Saleh, a U.S. ally against al- Qaeda, have intensified since the March 18 crackdown against protesters, which left at least 46 people dead and scores injured in the capital as police and snipers opened fire in the worst violence since the unrest started two months ago.
The killings prompted senior military officers including Ali Muhsin al-Ahmar, commander of the first armored division, and Mohammed Ali Muhssein, commander of the eastern region, to switch sides and led three ministers, dozens of members of parliament and several diplomats to quit Saleh’s regime.
Yemen’s army units have taken up positions around key government buildings and bank offices in Sana’a, without intervening against protesters. The army said in a statement that it won’t permit a “coup against democracy.”
Saleh said yesterday that those calling for “chaos, violence, hatred and vandalism” are the minority and that most people support the constitutional legitimacy of his government.
The U.S. has backed Saleh with about $300 million a year of military and economic aid. Ben Rhodes, the U.S. deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, said yesterday that the country needs “a government that is more responsive to the Yemeni people.”
--Editors: Ben Holland, Jennifer Freedman.