Yemeni oppostion turnining violent, and ruling party accuse them of preparing for war

By Nasser Arrabyee/04/09/2011

The Yemen government troops closed all entrances and prevented people from entering to the capital Sana’a on Sunday after opposition threatened to use military actions to end the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

More troops were deployed in the streets of Sana’a as fighter jets were flying over the city since early morning. The republican guards, the main forces loyal to Saleh, which control all entrances of Sana’a, try to prevent armed opposition tribesmen who wish to enter the city to fight with the opposition protesters who seem to be turning to violent.

Earlier, the Yemen ruling party accused the opposition parties of preparing for a bloody military action after defected general threatened to use the Libyan style for ending the revolution.

“There are adventurous leaders seeking to commit a massacre either from among those left in the squares or of the citizens,” the ruling party website quoted an unnamed official as saying.

“Those adventurous leaders think that bloodshed will restore the vitality they lost by withdrawal of protesters from the squares,” added the statement.

Earlier the defected general Ali Muhsen threatened to use the Libyan style for bringing the peaceful revolution to an end.

In their weekly rally of Friday September 2nd, hundreds of thousands took to the streets in the capital Sana’a and other cities, to demand use of military action to end their 8-month long struggle to topple the defiant President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

One of the Islamist leaders said in the Friday’s rally the protests should move from squares to neighborhoods of the cities. His call was a similar another Islamist leader who said earlier in the year the protesters should march forward to the “bed rooms”. The two calls angered a lot of Yemenis causing an increase of Saleh’s supporters.

On the same Friday ,however, hundreds of thousands of Saleh’s supporters also took to the streets to refuse any military action and demand dialogue.

Thousands of protesters known as “Assomud Youth” who belong to the Al Houthi rebels withdrew from the Sana’a square ‘Change Square’.

The step was widely welcomed by the residents in 20 street close to the old university. The 20 Street became free from movement and traffic after Assomud left with their tents.

Assomud Youth, known also as Houthis, hate the defected general Ali Muhsen who led six sporadic wars against them in the northern province of Sa’ada over the years 2004-2010.
Soldiers of the defected general Ali Muhen replaced the Houthis in the 20 Street starting from September1, 2011.

Meanwhile, the top authority of ruling party is to hold a meeting this week to discuss the amendments of the US-backed and Saudi-led GCC deal for transferring the power from Saleh to his deputy.

The amendments include three main points: Saleh calls for elections to be held at the end of this year, transfers his powers to his deputy, formation of unity government chaired by opposition, and formation of a military committee to re-structure the army.

The US State Department updated a routing warning to American citizens not travel to Yemen because the threat is still high because of the “unrest and terrorist activities”.