Yemeni MPs denounce US Ambassador' statement against “March of Life”

25/12/2011
News Yemen
Members of the Yemeni Parliament in the city of Taiz, southern Yemen, criticized U.S. ambassador to Yemen over labeling a foot march from Taiz to Sana'a, almost 280km, as “non-peaceful.”
The independent MPs said in a press conference on Sunday that the U.S. ambassador Gerlad Feierstein's remarks on the march of life gave green light to the regime to kill the participants in the march in Sana'a.
At least 13 people were killed and more than 200 others wounded.
The MPs, who resigned from the General People's Congress (GPC) party and joined the peaceful youth and popular revolution last March, called the U.S. ambassador to apologize “for the people of Taiz in particular, and the people of Yemen in general.”
They also demanded material and moral compensation for families of victims and for those who are suffering injuries, disabilities and psychological and moral damage.
“Members of the Parliament strongly condemn the US ambassador's irresponsible statements, which was one of the main reasons that encouraged the regime to attack the peaceful march.”
The MPs added that the regime carried out the massacre “because it was sure that it would not be held accountable as the statement by the US ambassador was considered a green light.”
The MPs condemned the attack on the march and said that they would boycott the sessions of the Parliament and that they will never give immunity for killers.
A source in the US embassy in Sana'a told al-Masdar Online that the embassy talked to senior Yemeni officials one day before the arrival of the “March of Life” to Sana'a and urged retraint.
The source said that the embassy also asked Yemeni officials to meet the marchers and allow them to march to the Change Square.
This comes one day after the US ambassador told reporters in Sana'a that the “March of Life” is not peaceful and aims to cause chaos and provoke the security forces, according to reports by al-Masdar Online and al-Ula independent daily which attended the press conference.