Today, Yemenis took the streets once again to commemorate the 4th anniversary of Yemen's 2011 Uprising, amidst the rise of Yemen's new tyranny of Al Houthi. I was moved seeing the pictures coming from Yemen today; Sana'a, Taiz, Ibb and other cities took the streets to commemorate the 2011 Uprising and to demand an end to Houthis' new rule.
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| Pic via Reuters |
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| "When the peaceful revolution smiles, God's militias frown."- Hani Al Junid. Pic by Arwa Othman. |
The people are showing once again their belief that only peaceful protest can end oppressive regimes. Thousands of men and women marched bravely, at great risk in suffering from Houthi gunmen thugs' attacks. Among the countless number of protesters who were arrested, one protester was physically attacked with Jambyyia:
#اليمن #صورة الثائر هشام العلواني،طعنه #الحوثيون اليوم #Yemen #Houthi strapped protester was injured by houthis pic.twitter.com/nFodzdo4XE
— Hamzah alkamaly (@hamzaalkamaly) February 11, 2015
Others in Taiz paid respect to the sacrificed ones:
Taiz Female revolutionaries visit the graves of fellow revolutionaries who were martyred in 2011. #Yemen #Feb11 #Taiz pic.twitter.com/ANOJwUV4t2
— Yemen Updates (@yemen_updates) February 11, 2015
Female protesters had their share of assult by Al Houthi men, today. Ammar Al Basha in Sana'a wrote on his Facebook how one Houthi man was pointing gun at a female protester asking her to go away & calling her a whore. Journalist, Hani Al Junid wrote on his Facebook describing how one female protester was physically attacked by a Houthi man but other male protesters managed to save her, then the Houthi man gave them the finger.
Yemen's Crisis is deep. It all started with the collapse of Saleh's rule which on one hand has not erased Yemen's problems: poverty, corruption, terrorism, but it also provided a vacuum for different political powers to appear and impose their control, powers such as; Gen. Ali Muhsen Al Ahmar, Islah and today it's Houthis' grip. I understand that history shows this pattern for nations struggling to be democratized; they could be tumbling with the rise of new tyranny following the collapse of the old system. True that Yemen witnessed fundamental changes, politically, socially, culturally, however, obviously it's moving rapidly to the opposite direction and is falling trapped in the hands of a new dictatorship.
Even though it's difficult to speculate what would happen next, I think Yemen is and will remain to be in a long state of transition which has a series of chains - Houthis are only part of that transition, and they can't last for long.
