Thousands of Yemeni women protest over (President) Saleh remarks (about them)

[Turborama]

Source: Reuters Africa

By Mohammed Ghobari | Sat Apr 16, 2011 4:37pm GMT

SANAA - Thousands of Yemeni women protested in Sanaa and other cities on Saturday, enraged by President Ali Abdullah Saleh's remarks it was against Islam for women to join men in the demonstrations aimed at toppling him.

The women, many clad in black Islamic dress with full face veils, said their role in protests was religiously sound and called on the president to step down in line with nearly three months of demonstrations demanding his ouster. "It seems that President Saleh failed in all his efforts to employ tribes and security to strike at those seeking his exit, and so he resorted to using religion, especially after he saw that thousands of women were taking part in protests," said Samia al-Aghbari, a leader in the protest movement. Saleh, who has warned of civil war and the break-up of Yemen if he is forced out before organising an orderly transition, urged the opposition on Friday to reconsider their refusal to join talks to resolve the crisis in the fractious state.

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"Oh youth, the honour of women has been slandered," the women chanted, referring to Saleh's remarks.

Some women brought their young daughters to the protests, including one with her face painted with the image of the Yemeni flag encircled by a heart on her cheek and the word "Leave" scrawled on her forehead.

Read more: http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFTRE73F1BY20110416?sp=true

[al bupp]

1. Thanks for the heads-up on this /nt

[pampango]

2. Aljazeera: Protests as Yemen leader calls for talks

Crowds across the country call on Saleh to step down while his loyalists rally in his support in the capital Sanaa.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/04/2011415131037686355.html

Yemenis have turned out in large numbers across the country to call on their long-serving president to immediately step down, while pro-government supporters rallied in the capital Sanaa.

Hundreds of thousands held an anti-regime protest after Friday prayers outside Sanaa University. Protests demanding Ali Abdullah Saleh's ouster were also held in southern Taiz city, the port of Aden and eastern Hadramawt province.

But Saleh, in power since 1978, told tens of thousands of supporters gathered near his presidential office that their huge number gave him legitimacy and was a "rejection of chaos".

He made an appeal to religious sensitivities when he said the opposition should stop the mixing of unrelated men and women among Sanaa protesters. "I call on them to prevent mixing that is against Islamic sharia law outside Sanaa University," he said.