Thousands Pour Into Streets for Yemen's 'Day of Rage'

SANAA, Yemen -- Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets today in cities and provinces across Yemen during a "day of rage," calling for the end of President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 32-year rule over one of the poorest and most volatile nations in the Arab world.

They also railed against recent violent crackdowns by government forces on demonstrators.

"Ben Ali, Mubarak -- now Saleh!" shouted a pack of young men, referring to the ousting of Tunisian and Egyptian presidents in popular revolts in the past two months. The men marched through the intersection outside Sanaa University, the epicenter of anti-Saleh protests in recent weeks, pounding homemade drums. "Saleh will be next!"

Saleh reacted in an unexpected speech this morning by blaming Israel and the United States for "destabilizing the Arab world." He suggested that anti-government protests in Sanaa were being "run by the White House," according to local reports.

"Every day we hear a statement from Obama saying, 'Egypt you can't do this, Tunisia don't do that,'" Saleh said in a speech to students and professors at Sanaa University. "What do you have to do with Egypt? Or with Oman? [Is he] president of the United States, or president of the world?"

The comments mark an important departure for Saleh, who has been a key ally of the U.S. government in the war on al-Qaida of the Arabian Peninsula, the arm of the terrorist organization based in Yemen.

Saleh has received hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid from the U.S. in recent years and has partnered with the U.S. since Yemen-based al-Qaida operatives bombed the USS Cole in Yemen's port city Aden, killing 17 Americans.

The government also held a counter-rally across town, where about 6,000 supporters held placards of the president's face and signs equating Saleh with stability, and revolution with violence and civil war. Twenty-seven people have been killed in the past three weeks in Yemen, mostly as a result of government security forces and Saleh loyalists firing on crowds in Aden, according to Amnesty International.

Today's protests come just after opposition figures refused Saleh's offer of a coalition government Monday night.

The offer was widely considered the president's last-ditch effort at reconciliation. He promised to include opposition leaders in a "unity government" alongside members of the ruling party. He also promised to enforce anti-corruption investigations and political reforms.

"I stress that this invitation comes too late and is no longer feasible," Mohammed al-Qubati, a spokesman for Yemen's coalition of opposition parties, told reporters Monday night. He called for Saleh to step down.

The "day of rage," named after similar mass protests in Egypt, was announced last week by key figures in the political opposition and endorsed by tribal leaders.

These public endorsements signal a new level of solidarity with anti-Saleh protesters across Yemen's diverse social strata. In recent weeks, separatist leaders from Yemen's long restive south and rebels from Yemen's northern provinces have also joined student protesters in the streets. When the protests began three weeks ago, only a couple thousand students marched through Sanaa's streets.

At noon local time today, Sheikh Abdul-Majid al-Zindani, a Yemeni religious leader who has been accused of being a terrorist by the U.S., led prayers at the anti-Saleh protest.

He also shared with the crowd his vision of an Islamist state in Yemen, a sentiment that was met with cheers and worry from the crowd, underscoring the diversity of protesters. They included educated youth, tribesmen, religious leaders, socialists, Islamists and separatists, all of whom have coalesced behind a common hatred of Saleh.

"I am for freedom and democracy, not terrorism," said Ahmed al-Fuadi, a young demonstrator at the protest who worried that al-Zindani's words might keep Westerners from supporting Yemen's youth. "This is a peaceful, pro-democracy revolution."

And at times, the "day of rage" almost resembled a festival.

In the blocked-off intersection in front of the university, where anti-Saleh protesters have set up hundreds of fluorescent tents, food carts and a makeshift stage, thousands of tribesmen in traditional robes danced with college students in jeans and T-shirts. Little girls in lacy dresses painted their faces with the red, black and white of Yemen's flag, and little boys set off firecrackers, whooping "Leave, Saleh, leave!"