Yemenis take to the streets, demand purge of ex-leader's loyalists

The Associated Press

May 3, 2012

Tens of thousands of Yemenis have taken to the streets to demand that members of the country's former regime be purged from top military posts.

Rallies organized by youth groups were held Thursday in the capital Sanaa and several other cities.

Some protesters carried banners urging Yemen's new president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, to “purge the army of family members” of his predecessor, Ali Abdullah Saleh.

After a year of uprising and turmoil, Mr. Saleh handed power to Mr. Hadi in February but several of his loyalists and relatives are hanging on to key military posts and refusing to step down.

Among them is Mr. Saleh's nephew Tarek Mohammed, who commands the elite Republican Guard. U.N. envoy to Yemen, Jamal Benomar, has been negotiating to get the nephew to step down.