Yemen: Pro and anti-government protesters face off

04 Feb 11 | Middle East and North Africa, News and features

Iona CraigIn Sana’a the opposition was outfoxed by President Saleh — but protests in provincial cities show the public’s anger has not abated. Iona Craig reports

As Cairo’s Tahrir Square and surrounding area spiraled into chaos,the central square of the same name (Liberation) in Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, was inhabited by pro-Saleh supporters in oversized tents.

Despite two opposing demonstrations taking place in the capital — pro- and anti-government — the feared violence on Yemen’s “day of rage” failed to materialise on Thursday, at least in Sana’a.

To the east of the country, in the coastal city of Mukkalla, the main city of Hadramaut province, at least one person was reportedly shot when government security forces opened fire on demonstrators. Other major protests took place in Taiz, Ibb and the southern city of Aden, where 22 people were arrested, according to local press.

Unfortunately there is no western media coverage of the provincial cities and as far as the world’s press was concerned, Yemen’s “day of rage” rather fizzled out. Tahrir Square in Sana’a couldn’t have offered a scene of greater contrast to that of Cairo’s. In Yemen’s capital, the day turned into a massive chewing session of the mildly narcotic leaf, qat, by pro-government supporters as they settled in to large wedding-style tents.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been extremely clever in his management of events here. After 32 years in power, he has become something of an expert at keeping his job.

Since the knock-on effect of Tunisia’s uprising began to be felt and protests in Yemen mounted, the president has announced a string of welfare reforms to appease the people and on the eve of Thursday’s protests, he declared that he would not stand for re-election at the end of his term in 2013. He made the same declaration in 2005 before standing as president in 2006. Saleh also reached out to opposition parties on Wednesday by conceding on a four-member electoral committee, stating that it would now include two opposition members. The coalition of opposition parties, the JMP, has so far boycotted the election process, due in April.

The president’s PR machine has been so slick that his supporters were ready and waiting to cheer him on — and call on him not to stand down in 2013 — before he had even made the announcement in an emergency parliament meeting on Wednesday. The takeover of the capital’s main square meant that planned anti-government demonstrators were forced to switch location at the last minute to Sana’a University.

Despite a distinct build up in security — soldiers occupied every major junction and street corner in the capital on Thursday — the two sets of demonstrations passed off peacefully without ever meeting. In the rest of the country where the international press does not tread, events were less passive.

On Friday in Sana’a there were no spontaneous follow-ups to yesterday’s demonstrations, organised by the opposition. Yemenis are so far reluctant to pick up the baton from the Egyptians. What’s happening in the rest of Yemen is less clear and may be more crucial than events in the capital.

Iona Craig is a freelance journalist and editor at the Yemen Times, Sana’a.

Egypt: A co-ordinated campaign against reporters

03 Feb 11 | Egypt, Middle East and North Africa

If Wednesday was the day that the protesters occupying Cairo’s Tahrir Square were besieged by armed pro-government thugs, then Thursday was the journalists’ turn for a little terrifying mob violence.

All through the day, came steadily increasing reports of journalists — both foreigners and native Egyptians — being harassed, detained and even assaulted by pro-Mubarak crowds.

It’s 6pm Cairo time as I write this, and I’ve personally heard of at least a dozen separate incidents. The Washington Post has confirmed on its website that their Cairo Bureau Chief Leila Fadel was “among two dozen journalists arrested this morning by the Egyptian Interior Ministry. We understand that they are safe but in custody.”

At least three reporters from Al Jazeera’s English channel were apparently arrested by the Army, according to staffers there. A Greek journalist was stabbed in the leg, and Mohammed Dahshan, a reporter with the English Edition of Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper, was beaten by Mubarak supporters — apparently for the crime of carrying a laptop in his bag.

Andrew Lee Butters, a reporter working with Time Magazine was detained and roughed by civilians, who he said were taking orders from uniformed police officers on the scene. The prominent local blogger Sandmonkey was arrested while attempting to bring in medical supplies to help the wounded in Tahrir. He later tweeted

I am ok. I got out. I was ambushed & beaten by the police, my phone confiscated, my car ripped apart & supplies taken

The sheer scope of the number of incidents in one day should immediately discredit any government argument that these were isolated or spontaneous events. This could only have been a coordinated campaign. And it’s a surreal irony that many of these attacks were taking place at the same time that new prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq was apologising for the previous day’s violence and promising an investigation.

Detention of journalists and death of student in Sudan protests

02 Feb 11 | Index Index, minipost, News and features

As protests against rising food and living costs continue in Khartoum, six journalists and two media staff have been detained by authorities and one student has died of injuries sustained during clash with police. Mohammed Abdulrahman of Ahlia University died in Omdurman hospital after being injured during student protests on 30 January. The detained journalists are Rashid Abd al- Wahab and Ali Ahmad haj al-Amin of Arjas al -Huriya, Sara Taj al-Sir of Al Sahafa, Ahmed Sir al-Khatam of the independent daily akhbar al-Youm, Fatima al-Ghazali of Al-Jarida.

Pro-Mubarak violence shows why protests happened in first place

02 Feb 11 | Egypt, Middle East and North Africa

The internet suddenly came back up this morning, which means that flood of amateur video uploads I predicted should really start flowing today.

But anybody who thought the return of the net meant some sort of softening of President Hosni Mubarak’s stance was quickly disillusioned.

Angry pro-Mubarak demonstrations have been marching throughout the city since the morning.

Around 2pm, a mass of those protestors managed to rush into Tahrir Square and confront the demonstrators occupying the square. Inconsistent reports that the Army troops supposedly protecting the Tahrir demonstrators either were overwhelmed or just let it happen.

Heading to Tahrir now with a knot in my stomach. This is looking like a real “ugly face of the regime” day. For anybody who’s still wondering, the images you’ll see on television today are the reason the protests happened in the first place.