YEMEN: Timeline of protests since 5 April 2011

Source: Content partner // IRIN

SANA’A, 17 May 2011 (IRIN) - Several hundred people have been killed or injured since the start of a nationwide revolt against the 32-year rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in the first week of February 2011. Below is a timeline of key events from 5 April to the present:

5 April: Three killed and more than 400 injured in renewed clashes between thousands of protesters and police in Sana’a and Taiz.

6 April: Tens of thousands of demonstrators besiege Taiz Governorate’s administrative HQ in protest against the firing of live rounds at them the previous day. Fifteen activists arrested in Aden following clashes with the police.

8 April: Hundreds of thousands of protesters take to the streets in about 15 of Yemen’s 21 governorates on a day the protesters call “Friday of Determination”.

10 April: Four killed, 43 injured in clashes between protesters and riot police in Taiz. Some 500 protesters taken ill after inhaling tear gas.

11 April: Saleh announces his acceptance of a 30-day exit plan offered by Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states. The plan anticipates Saleh handing power to his vice-president in exchange for giving him and his family immunity from prosecution.

12 April: Hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets of main cities to protest against the GCC proposals.

13 April: Five soldiers killed, four injured in clashes between the First Armoured Division, which defected from Yemen’s army, and government troops. Two protesters killed in Aden.

15 April: Hundreds of thousands of protesters go onto the streets in about 17 governorates on what they call “Friday of Tolerance”. Some 13 protesters injured in Taiz.

17 April: GCC foreign ministers meet Yemeni opposition in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Two protesters killed, 45 others injured in Sana'a. “Ambulances taking injured protesters were attacked by pro-government thugs and their staff injured,” Mohammed al-Qubati, deputy manager of the field hospital at the Sana’a University protest site, told IRIN.

21 April: Fifteen people, including 13 soldiers, killed in clashes between a contingent of the Republican Guards, led by Saleh’s eldest son Ahmad, and armed tribesmen in the southern governorate of Lahj. “The clashes erupted after tribesmen moved to drive a Republican Guard contingent from a strategic position in their area,” Mohammed al-Khalidi, a tribal sheikh, told IRIN from Lahj Governorate.

22 April: Hundreds of thousands of protesters take to the streets of main cities on what they call “Last Chance Friday”. The president’s supporters rally in the Sabean area of Sana’a. Ten Republican Guards killed in an ambush by armed tribesmen in Marib Governorate.

27 April: At least seven killed and more than 100 injured in clashes between protesters and government supporters as the former advanced towards the state TV building in Sana’a.

29 April: Hundreds of thousands demonstrate in 17 of Yemen’s 21 governorates on what they call the “Friday of Loyalty with Martyrs”. Saleh dismisses Attorney-General Abdullah al-Ulifi for demanding there be an investigation into the former’s relatives who lead the Republican Guards, Presidential Guards and central security forces, over the killing of 52 protesters on 18 March.

4 May: Tens of thousands of people in Sana’a, Taiz, Hodeidah, Ibb, Dhamar and other cities demonstrate against the government’s bombing of Yafea District, Lahj Governorate. The government accuses the opposition of cutting off the tongue of a poet loyal to Saleh.

5 May: Tens of thousands of people demonstrate in Sana’a, Aden, Taiz and Ibb to press Saleh to step down. Protesters announce that 7 and 11 May are to be days of civil disobedience.

6 May: Hundreds of thousands demonstrate in almost all Yemeni governorates on what they call “Friday of Loyalty with People of the South” who were bombed from the air. Speaking to his supporters in Sabean area, Saleh vows to crack down on what he called “opposition-backed bandits” who hit oil pipelines and a power plant in Marib Governorate.

8 May: Three protesters killed, 20 injured in clashes with riot police in Taiz and Hodeidah governorates.

9 May: “Revolution youth” close government offices in Ibb, Taiz and Hodeidah. Four killed, more than 100 injured in Taiz after government troops try to disperse protesters besieging government offices in the city.

11 May: Twelve killed, more than 150 injured as thousands of protesters advance towards the Council of Ministers’ building in Sana’a. Another eight killed in Taiz, Hodeidah and Ibb.

13 May: Three protesters killed by police in Ibb city as hundreds of thousands take to streets in almost all Yemeni governorates on what they call “Friday of Decisiveness”. Speaking to his supporters rallying in the Sabean area on what they called “Friday of Unity”, Saleh says: “We will encounter defiance with stronger defiance.” He urges loyalists to align with the army and security forces in defending government institutions. Clashes between the First Armoured Division and Republican Guards in Ban Matar District, 40km west of Sana’a, leaving three soldiers dead.

14 May: Five Republican Guard soldiers killed in an ambush by tribesmen in Marib Governorate, 180km east of Sana’a. Six members of the government security forces killed in Rada city, Beida Governorate, 150km southeast of Sana’a when armed tribesmen attack a security checkpoint at the city’s eastern entrance.