(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Thousands of Yemenis took to the streets of Sana'a yesterday in the biggest protest yet against a Shia militia takeover of the capital that has plunged the country into turmoil.
The demonstration came as regions in the formerly independent south stepped up their defiance after the Shia militiamen, who hail from Yemen's northern highlands and are known as Houthis, tightened their grip on Sana'a.
"Down, down with the Houthis' rule," chanted protesters who rallied following a call by the Rejection Movement - a group recently formed in provincial areas to challenge the militia.
Women and children joined angry young men on the streets, waving signs that called for "a real government" and burning portraits of the militia leader Abdulmalek Al Houthi.
Demonstrators gathered at Change Square before heading to the Republican Palace, the residence of Prime Minister Khalid Bahah, who fled it on Wednesday after a being surrounded by the militia for two days.
But the protesters changed their route and marched toward the home of embattled President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi to express their "rejection of his resignation," according to organisers.
Hadi, a key US ally in the fight against Al Qaeda, tendered his resignation along with Bahah on Thursday, saying he could no longer stay in office as the country was in "total deadlock".
Those who took to Sana'a's streets yesterday also demanded that Hadi "impose the authority of the state" in face of the powerful Houthis, said the protest organisers.
Houthi gunmen backed by armoured vehicles were deployed along Sittin Street, where the president lives, but they only watched on as the protesters marched.
The protest ended with the return of demonstrators to Change Square.
Large demonstrations also took place in the cities of Taez, Ibb and Hudaida, organisers said.
Houthi gunmen, however, later rounded up dozens of youths who took part in protests in Sana'a and Ibb, according to families and witnesses.
Meanwhile, armed tribesmen arrived in Sana'a to force the release of Defence Minister Mahmud Al Subaihi and other top officials whose residences have been surrounded, tribal sources said.
Representatives of tribes from Marib and Jawf provinces, joined by tribes from Sana'a, arrived in dozens of vehicles carrying armed men near the house of Subaihi, a tribal source said.
The tribesmen have threatened to use force if necessary, and both they and the Houthis have brought reinforcements to the neighbourhood around Subaihi's house.
Parliament is set to hold an extraordinary meeting today to discuss Hadi's resignation offer, which needs to be approved by lawmakers to take effect.
After heavy fighting between government forces and the Houthis this week that killed at least 35 people, the UN Security Council and Yemen's Gulf neighbours had all voiced support for Hadi's continued rule.
The European Union warned the events put the "remarkable promises of the Yemeni transition in jeopardy," referring to the political process that followed a year of bloody protests that drove former autocratic president Ali Abdullah Saleh out of office.
The situation escalated on January 17 when the militiamen seized Hadi's chief of staff, Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, in an apparent bid to extract changes to a draft constitution they oppose because it would divide Yemen into six federal regions.
|The Houthis still hold Mubarak and maintain a tight grip on the capital despite a deal struck late on Wednesday to end what authorities called a coup attempt.
In return for concessions over the disputed draft constitution, the Houthis had pledged to vacate the presidential palace, free Mubarak, withdraw from areas surrounding the residences of Hadi and Bahah, and abandon checkpoints across the capital.
In the south, separatists yesterday seized police checkpoints in Ataq, the provincial capital of Shabwa, as other regions declared they would defy Sana'a following the resignation of Hadi, who is a southerner.
Gunmen in Ataq raised the flags of the formerly independent South Yemen on the seized checkpoints.
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