President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, after serving as a lieutenant colonel in the army. He had been part of the conspiracy that bumped off his predecessor, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, in the usual tiresome military coup, and he has maintained power by keeping Yemen's many tribes fighting with each other, rather than uniting to string him up. ...
At least 150 military forces have joined protesters who have been calling in the past few weeks on Saleh's regime to resign. Saleh, however, has rejected the plan under which he should resign by 2011.
Saleh is facing heavy pressure as the demonstrations spread to the northern parts of the country.
Tens of thousands of protesters have hit the streets in several cities of the region, including Sa'ada which is also the stronghold of Houthi Shia fighters.
The Shia community has also joined calls for a regime change and expressed solidarity with anti-government protesters in Sana'a and other parts of Yemen.
On Monday, anti-regime protests spread to a prison in Sana'a, where 2,000 inmates occupied the detention center's courtyard and took dozens of guards as hostage. The prisoners also joined the calls demanding an end to Saleh's 33-year regime.