Once again, after more than fifty years, the slogan “Colonialism Must Go out from the Free People Land” returned to be heard in the southern governorates of Yemen. Thousands, who received, by flowers six years ago, the military convoys of Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, protested during the past days in the streets of Aden, Lahj and Abyan, demanding the departure of the Saudi-Emirati coalition forces.

 

Angry protesters blocked public streets, burned tires, and tore up pictures of the Saudi king and his son and pictures of the rulers of the Emirates. The demonstrations in Aden reached the vicinity of the Saudi forces military camp and the coalition headquarters in Al-Bariqa, while the outer walls of the Presidential Palace were stormed, where Saudi forces are residents.

 

Saudi forces in Aden seemed almost besieged by thousands of angry young people who demanded their withdrawal.

 

“The Saudi grant announced by the government at the beginning of this year to support the electricity sector, with 420 million dollars, was nothing but a bogus grant,” sources in Hadi’s government told Al-Akhbar. They explained that “against the popular pressures that began at the beginning of this year, Hadi government, after meeting of its representatives with the Saudi Ambassador, Muhammad Al Jaber, announced a Saudi fuel grant”.

 

In the meantime, it was remarkable that the UAE-backed “Security Belt” forces had received instructions not to clash with the protesters, while the Ministry of Interior of the Saudi-backed Hadi government directed to suppress them in Hadramawt Valley and Shabwa. It also issued a circular promising to hold accountable all the security services that were proven to be involved in supporting the demonstrations, and accused the protesters for “working for the benefit of external forces that undermine security and stability.”