 Yemeni security forces backed by tanks surrounded mosques and government buildings yesterday to thwart fresh protests after two days of rioting over fuel price increases killed more than 20 people. The increase, which went into effect on Wednesday, set off the country's worst riots since 1998 and drew fire from opposition parties and a leading cleric.
| "Here, you people! Stop that!" |
In his Friday sermon, Grand Mosque preacher Shaikh Akram Al Rukaihi, said the government should have battled widespread corruption before increasing fuel prices and affecting the country's already impoverished people. "We must crack down on corruption which has grown to monstrous proportions, for bellies have become bloated with public funds," he said, echoing critics' calls for the government to cut its budget deficit by ending misuse of public funds. But he also criticised the thousands of Yemenis who went on the rampage on Wednesday and Thursday, clashing with police and torching public buildings to protest the increase. "No religion or logic or legislation allows an individual to carry on like this ... This is not Pakistan Islam," Al Rukaihi said.
| Oh, of course it is. Every time I hear the phrase "rioting in the streets" I immediately think "Islam." Only after I look at the pictures and see no turbans do I think "Leftists." |
The protesters smashed and torched government offices, shops and cars.
| You'd think it was Karachi or something... |
On Thursday, they stormed an oil facility in the Red Sea city of Houdeida but were shot at by riot police.
| Except for that part, of course... |
Witnesses said the violence appeared to have eased off yesterday. Security officials said 24 people were killed in two days of protests, the heaviest toll since 1998 when 34 people died in two weeks of demonstrations against fuel and food price rises. However, agency reports quoted police as saying 36 deaths in the two days of rioting. But witnesses put the death toll at 39 which included four security forces personnel. About 65 people have been arrested throughout Yemen since Wednesday, police said, while hospital officials said at least 100 people have been wounded. Yemen, an oil-producer with declining resources, says the fuel price rises are part of reforms backed by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank launched in 1995 to prevent economic collapse. |