By Agence France Presse (AFP)

Friday, February 04, 2011
Mohammed Ghobari and Khaled Abdullah
Reuters

SANAA: Tens of thousands of Yemenis squared off in peaceful protests for and against the government Thursday during an opposition-led “Day of Rage,” a day after President Ali Abdullah Saleh offered to step down in 2013.

The peaceful protests faded out by midday as planned, suggesting Yemenis outside the traditional opposition activist core had not been motivated to transform the rally into a self-sustaining, Egyptian-style mass upheaval.
Still, the opposition drew more than 20,000 people in Sanaa, the biggest crowd since a wave of demonstrations hit the country two weeks ago.

“The people want regime change,” anti-government protesters shouted as they gathered near Sanaa University, a main rallying point. “No to corruption, no to dictatorship!”

Saleh indicated Wednesday he would leave office when his term ends in 2013. He also pledged that his son would not take over the reins of government.

Being an important U.S. ally against Al-Qaeda, President Barack Obama spoke by telephone with Saleh Wednesday, the White House said Thursday.

Across the country, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets including in Taiz, where Saleh once served as military governor, and in southern towns where a separatist movement has grown increasingly active.

Scuffles broke out in the southern city of Aden when security forces broke up a protest with tear gas, and two people were wounded. Hundreds of security men had deployed, arresting 20, an opposition spokesman said.

Yemen’s biggest opposition party, the Islamist Islah, welcomed Saleh’s initiative but snubbed a presidential appeal to call off protests. But protesters appeared to lack consensus, with some calling for Saleh to get out while others wanted him to prove he would act on his promises. “What the president offered yesterday was just theater. I don’t trust him,” a protester, Mahmoud Abdullah, said in Sanaa.

Abubakr al-Qirbi, Yemen’s foreign minister, told BBC Radio that “serious dialogue” was needed now between the ruling and opposition parties. “We have never closed the door for their participation,” Qirbi said.

Asked whether the unrest could be exploited by radical Islamists, he replied: “Any instability, not only in Yemen, whether it is in Egypt or Tunisia or in any other country, will play into the hands of extremists and terrorists. This is real¬¬¬ly why it is important to work with governments and opposition parties to make them realize that the objective of change is to create stability and not to create anarchy.”

Qirbi acknowledged that frustration of the young generation is widespread across the Arab world, including in his country. But he also warned that interference from outside countries – he mentioned Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan – would be counterproductive.

Should protests widen, the stakes would be high for Saleh. His country is on the brink of becoming a failed state, as it tries to fight a resurgent Al-Qaeda wing, quell separatism in the south and cement peace with Shiite rebels in the north. – With AP, AFP