President Saleh more defiant

Showdown Friday ended with prayers against and with Saleh
By Nasser Arrabyee/25/03/2011

The Yemeni President Ali Abdullah has not gone. He seemed even more defiant than ever before this Friday which was set by his detractors to ouster him.
“This is the legitimacy of my regime”, President Saleh addressed more than one million people who assembled
in the Parade Square, Al Sabeen, nearby his palace.

“It’s you who will take the power from me, not the minority of the demagogues,” Said Saleh in obvious reference to leaders of the opposition who were attending the Friday sermons on the other part of the city where hundreds of thousands of their supporters were waiting the departure of Saleh on the “Friday of Departure” as they called it. He said he would hand the power only to “good hands”.

“We’ll keep as steadfast as the mountains of Numkum and Ayban,” he said referring to two mountains around Sana’a.

“This is the Friday of Tolerance and Peace, not the Friday of marching forward to the bed rooms” Saleh his supporters who were obviously angry after the opposition spokesman, Mohammed Qahtan who earlier called the protesters to march forward to Saleh’s room.

The supporters of Saleh, who came mainly from the provinces around Sana’a, considered that statement socially unaccepted.

President Saleh exploited Qahtan’s statement for mobilizing more people and for inciting against his detractors.

“The smart politician Mohammed Qahtan said they would march forward to our bed room,” Saleh said on Thursday in the State-run TV.

Threatening with going to one’s bed room is very sensitive thing in Yemen.
It seems that Saleh was very lucky this Friday, because one of his detractors (Qahtan) unknowingly helped in assembling people around Saleh.


Although this Friday was expected as a showdown Friday , it ended peacefully with each side praying to Allah to help for achieving their respective goals.
“Oh Allah(God) , Oh Allah, topple Ali Abdullah, Oh Allah, Oh Allah, topple Ali Abdullah,” the anti-Saleh were praying in their Friday sermons at the gate of Sana’a university.


“Oh Allah, Oh Allah, preserve Ali Abdulla, Oh Allah , Oh Allah, preserve Ali Abdullah,” the supporters of Saleh were praying in the two main square of the city, Al Tahreer and Al Sabeen.

Saleh called the young protesters who are not belonging to parties for dialogue and he called them to establish a political party.
But the protesters refused any kind of dialogue saying they would continue their sit-in until Saleh is ousted.

“Any one of us who would make any kind of dialogue would be considered a traitor,” Said the young protester Abdel Abdu, who is a member of the media committee of the anti Saleh sit-in camps.