U.S Condemns Use of Violence against Anti-Regime Protesters in Yemen

By Fatik Al-Rodaini

Sana'a, May 12, 2011- The U.S. State Department renewed its support for the deal brokered by the GGC leaders between Yemen's ruling General People Congress party and the opposition coalition, the Joint Meeting Parties in the meantime.

''We call on the parties to sign and implement the terms of the (GCC) agreement now to ensure an orderly, peaceful transition of power,” Mark Toner said in a statement on Thursday. He also called to start the power transition immediately, “This transition must begin immediately.”

Toner condemned the use of violence against peaceful protesters by Yemeni security forces in Sana'a, Aden, Taiz, and other provinces “We call on the Yemeni security forces to exercise maximum restraint, refrain from violence.'' He called Yemeni government to respect the right of Yemeni people in expressing their Views, '' We call on Yemeni government to respect the rights of the Yemeni people to freely and peacefully assemble and express their views.”

Protesters in Yemen have been demanding the resignation of longtime embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh in weeks of demonstrations, some involving tens of thousands of people. Saleh has been clinging to power, warning that if he leaves without an orderly succession, the Al-Qaeda branch in Yemen will take advantage of the resulting chaos.

The head of GCC, Abdul Latif Al-Zayani said on Thursday in a statement that the GCC initiative is the best solution and an exit out of the country’s dramatic situation stop the bloodshed and to spare the country further deterioration of the security and political division.” Local outlets media reported that Al-Zayani is expected to visit Yemen on Saturday to press the initiative.

Last month, the GCC came up with an initiative to solve the current crisis in Yemen between the ruling GPC and the opposition, but it was stalled because Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh rejected to sign the agreement.

Two days ago, Yemen's revolution youth and the opposition coalition, the Joint Meeting Parties, announced their final strategy to force Yemen's longtime embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down immediately.

In a statement posted on the internet, it said that next Tuesday will be the Day of Marching towards the presidential palace where President Saleh lives to force him to step down.

''President Saleh is benefiting from the passing of time in order to deplete the youth revolution,'' the statement said. "By escalating our reactions against him we can achieve the victory to our revolution," statement added.

The statement focused on ten steps to accomplish the goal of youth revolution.

Youths in Yemen accused the Saudi and US of trying to weaken their revolution in favor of President Saleh.

President Saleh has been facing nationwide protests since the beginning of February demanding his immediate ouster. More than 140 anti-government protesters have been killed during Yemen's uprising.

Witnesses: 2 killed, dozens hurt in Yemen protests; GCC renews effort to solve to crisis

By Associated Press,

May 12, 5:48 PM

SANAA, Yemen — Yemeni police trying to disperse thousands of anti-government protesters in two cities Thursday killed two and wounded at least 47, some by gunfire, according to witnesses. In one of the cities, protesters overran a government building.

Gunmen fired at protesters in the central city of Bayda from the roof of a building belonging to the ruling party, killing two people and injuring seven, activist Ghazi al-Amiri said. In the southern city of Taiz, police fired live ammunition and rubber bullets to disperse demonstrators there, injuring 40 people, said field doctor Sadeq al-Shujah.

Taiz has been a hotbed of anti-government protests. Activist Nouh al-Wafi said crowds seized control of the Oil Ministry building and hung a banner over the entrance on Thursday that said “Closed until further notice by order of the youth revolution.”

Bushra al-Maktari, an activist in Taiz, said police fired tear gas at the demonstrators, and the government sent army and security reinforcements to confront thousands camped in the city’s central square.

Demonstrations took place in Aden, Hadramawt, Hodeida and other cities.

Protesters have been demanding the resignation of longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh in weeks of demonstrations, some involving tens of thousands of people. Saleh has been clinging to power, warning that if he leaves without an orderly succession, the al-Qaida branch in Yemen will take advantage of the resulting chaos.

Saleh torpedoed a mediation effort last month that appeared to be close to resolving the crisis. Yemen’s powerful neighbors in the Gulf Cooperation Council put together a package that offered Saleh to name his own successor, avoid prosecution and step down in 30 days. Opposition leaders grudgingly accepted it, but at the last minute, Saleh refused to sign.

On Thursday the GCC tried to resurrect the deal.

“The Gulf initiative is the best solution and an exit out of the country’s dramatic situation stop the bloodshed and to spare the country further deterioration of the security and political division,” GCC secretary-general Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani said in a statement Thursday. Media reports said al-Zayani was expected to visit Yemen on Saturday to press the initiative.

On Thursday the U.S. State Department offered its support for the deal and demanded that in the meantime, Yemen’s government stop firing on protesters.

“We call on the Yemeni security forces to exercise maximum restraint, refrain from violence and respect the rights of the Yemeni people to freely and peacefully assemble and express their views,” spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement.

“We call on the parties to sign and implement the terms of the (GCC) agreement now to ensure an orderly, peaceful transition of power,” Toner said. “This transition must begin immediately.”

Retired cop says Yemeni man had plan

May 11, 2011

By Bill Silverfarb Daily Journal staff

Retired San Mateo police officer Larry Wright helped subdue a Yemeni man on a San Francisco-bound flight from Chicago who was trying to access the plane’s cockpit.

Larry Wright was busy watching television on his iPhone Sunday night as a commotion erupted on the San Francisco-bound American Airlines flight from Chicago he was traveling on.

He heard a scream from behind, although faint through the earphones he was wearing, when a moment later a man brushed by him in a rush toward the front of the plane.

Wright watched the man’s speed toward the cockpit turn to a trot, then a run when he heard the man scream “Allahu Akbar.”

Immediately, the former San Mateo police officer’s instincts kicked into gear.

The phrase Allahu Akbar or “God is great” is the same phrase an al-Qaida terrorist who participated in the hijacking of Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001, was heard saying on a voice recorder as the plane plummeted to a field in Pennsylvania.

Wright quickly unbuckled his seat belt after he heard the phrase and headed toward the man as it quickly became clear the agitated passenger was not headed toward the bathroom but rather the plane’s cockpit.

Some passengers and flight attendants briefly struggled with the irate man before Wright reached him and subdued him.

Yesterday, a federal prosecutor called the passenger, 28-year-old Rageh al-Murisi of Yemen, a “significant threat.”

Al-Murisi, who has family in Vallejo, is currently being held in custody without bail while awaiting trial.

Wright, who retired from the SMPD in 2007, recounted Sunday night’s events yesterday at San Francisco International Airport.

Al-Murisi was being taken to the ground by four or five others on the plane when Wright finally took a hold of him.

While Wright’s adrenaline was pumping, so too was al-Murisi’s as the former officer’s hands slipped off the struggling passenger.

“His skin was clammy, almost moist,” Wright said yesterday.

Wright wrapped the man up again in a “control hold” while others tried to cuff him. Wright too then attempted to put some “flex cuffs” on al-Murisi without success. He tried again, this time successful, as he told others to take the man’s shoes and socks off.

Wright then took his belt off and strapped al-Murisi’s wrists to his ankles. He was under control but Wright’s attention immediately went to the “what-ifs.”

Wright asked himself, was the man carrying a contaminant or improvised explosive device? Was there an accomplice?

Not wanting to risk the safety of other passengers, Wright determined the man should not be transported to the back of the plane as first suggested by one of the flight attendants.

Instead, Wright laid the man face down on the floor near the front of the plane and sat on him for about 20 minutes until the plane and all of its passengers landed safely in San Francisco.

“I knew what could have happened and it didn’t happen,” Wright said yesterday. “He had a plan. I thought he was trying to crash the plane.”

Al-Murisi never said a word directly to Wright.

“He just kept saying Allahu Akbar over and over again, maybe 30 times,” Wright said.

The phrase has become synonymous with the events of Sept. 11 and Wright knew through his training when al-Murisi first yelled the phrase on the plane that nothing good could come from it.

Nearly 10 years ago, on the day of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, Wright was at a High-tech Crime Investigation Association meeting in Long Beach when the Twin Towers fell.

He saved the green T-shirt from that weekend’s event as a reminder and brought it to the airport yesterday.

“I swore to myself after that day that I would never be a victim,” Wright, 54, said while holding up the T-shirt.

He does not consider himself to be a hero, however.

In fact, he was reluctant to come forward and tell his story because he prefers to live a private life.

“I’m no hero. Under the circumstances, I did what I think everyone should do,” he said.

Wright worked with the San Mateo Police Department from 1981 until his retirement in 2007.

He quoted a phrase from 18th century Irish statesman Edmund Burke at the airport yesterday.

“Evil prevails when good men do nothing.”

Al-Murisi had no luggage and was carrying two checks totaling $13,000 on the flight. Al-Murisi, who holds a Yemeni passport, had identification showing addresses in New York City and Vallejo, federal prosecutors said yesterday.

A detention hearing for al-Murisi is scheduled for Friday, federal prosecutors said. The crime of interfering with flight crew members and attendants carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison upon conviction.

“We don’t need to be flustered by this, but we must be prepared,” Wright said yesterday.

Bay City News Service contributed to this report.

Yemeni security forces open fire on protesters

SANAA, Yemen May 11, 2011 (AP) — Witnesses say Yemeni security forces and snipers have opened fire on thousands of anti-government protesters marching to the Cabinet building.

The protesters calling for the ouster of longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh were marching from a main square toward the Cabinet when they came under fire from snipers on rooftops, plainclothes security forces, and soldiers with anti-aircraft guns mounted on pickup trucks.

"The snipers were shooting at the people," Talal al-Hamadi, a protester, said. "People rushed and some fell over each other. There was a stampede."

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Security forces fired on anti-government protesters Wednesday in southern Yemen, killing three people, and demonstrators took over an Oil Ministry building, activists said.

Nouh al-Wafi said two protesters were killed and four wounded in the volatile city of Taiz, and another protester was killed in the city of Damar after demonstrators calling for the ouster of longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh clashed with police.

After the second protester was killed in Taiz, demonstrators stormed the police station where the gunfire came from, seized a policeman whom they accused of shooting, and handed him over to the prosecutor's office, said another activist, Ghazi al-Samai.

He also said protesters were setting fire to tires in several streets in Taiz and took control of three government buildings, including the Oil Ministry.

In Sanaa, the capital, protesters started a second sit-in on one of the city's main streets, adding to the already large permanent sit-in on Change Square near Sanaa University, al-Wafi said.

Tawakul Karman, a senior member of the main opposition party, Islah, said plans were developing for protest marches on the presidential palace in Sanaa, and other government buildings elsewhere, to press Saleh to step down.

In Aden, another southern city, demonstrators also set fire to tires in the streets as the city was paralyzed by a civil disobedience called by the opposition. Similar demonstrations took place in Hadramawt and Hodeida.

Yemen has been reeling from nearly three months of protests demanding Saleh's ouster. In office for over three decades, Saleh has intensified his crackdown on the protests and refused a regional mediation offer.

More than 140 people have reportedly been killed in the government crackdown on the escalating protests.

Yemen protests paralyze 2 cities, police kill two

By Mohammed Ghobari and Mohamed Sudam

May 11, 2011

SANAA (Reuters) - Yemeni security forces killed two protesters and wounded dozens on Wednesday as mass rallies demanding the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh paralyzed two major cities on Wednesday, residents and medics said.

Snipers shot dead two demonstrators in Taiz as unrest running into a third day shut down Yemen's main industrial city. Dozens were wounded by gunfire, tear gas, and beatings by plainclothes agents wielding bats, medics in Taiz said.

Protesters retaliated by torching a police building, residents said.

Neighboring oil giant Saudi Arabia and the United States fear escalating violence could push impoverished Yemen, already riven by tribal and separatist conflict, into chaos that could be used by al Qaeda's Yemen-based wing to operate more freely.

Security forces in Taiz had been trying to break up a protest blockade of the education ministry in the region, some 200 km (130 miles) south of the capital Sanaa.

But protesters instead extended their blockade to seal off Taiz's public services and branch of the oil ministry. Residents said the city of 540,000 people was effectively paralyzed.

"Stores are closed and the streets are completely empty of pedestrians, only protesters are around in the areas they are confronting (security forces)," resident Wajdi Abdullah said.

Protesters also brought life in the city of Ibb to a virtual halt. "Almost all the stores are shut in Ibb except a few selling basic food items. No one is going to work -- this is unprecedented in this city," said resident Ali Noaman.

The Arabian Peninsula country has been buffeted by three months of daily protests and demonstrators frustrated by Saleh's reluctance to relinquish nearly 33 years in power have been seeking new ways of loosening his grip.

Many have called for extending a sporadic general strike to a daily event.

Yemen is facing a growing fuel crisis as tribesmen continue a weeks-long blockade of Maarib province, the main source of its oil and gas. A shipping source told Reuters the government was losing around $3 million a day as exports were blocked.

But that blow may prove just as crushing for residents themselves as it is for Saleh's government.

Yemen's fragile economy is struggling to stay afloat as the currency tumbles below 240 against the dollar, and prices of basic necessities skyrocket. All this will increase hardship for the 40 percent of Yemen's 23 million people who live on less than $2 a day and a third of whom suffer chronic hunger.

Residents in more remote areas are also suffering severe water shortages because trucks have stopped bringing water shipments due to fuel rationing.