Yemeni protesters dismiss Saleh’s resignation pledge

October 10, 2011 - 16:46
altYemeni protesters have dismissed President Ali Abdullah Saleh's pledge that he will step down within “the coming days” as yet another delaying tactic to clinging on to power.

“Saleh is a liar, nothing has changed since his speech,” an organizer of anti-regime protests in the capital Sanaa, Mohammed al-Asl, said on Sunday, Reuters reported.

“We're used to this type of thing now. He just says anything to fool his own people, the world, and everyone. We're not paying any attention to this,” he added.

In a speech late on Saturday, the 69-year-old embattled ruler said, “I reject power and I will continue to reject it, and I will be leaving power in the coming days.”

Since late January, protests against Saleh's dictatorial rule have paralyzed the Middle Eastern nation. The United Nations Security Council is going to be briefed on Yemeni crisis in the coming days and the 15-memebr UN body is likely to consider a resolution calling on Saleh to implement a power transfer deal.

Mohammed al-Sabri, an opposition coalition spokesman, emphasized that Saleh's resignation pledge is a new propaganda before the Security Council's debate over Yemen.

Another student protester underlined, “It sounds like the same lie, the same speech, over and over again.”

New pressure over Saleh's relentless 30-year rule has come from this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakul Karman, one of the leading activists, who has been on the street at “Change Square” outside Sanaa University since February.

She has vowed to press ahead with her campaign until the U.S.-backed dictator steps down.

“I dedicate my prize to all freedom seekers. I dedicate it to all Yemenis who preferred to make their revolution peaceful by facing the snipers with flowers. It is for the Yemeni women, for the peaceful protesters in Tunisia, Egypt, and all the Arab world,” she said on Friday.

Saleh returned from Saudi Arabia on September 23 after receiving treatment for wounds he sustained in an attack on the presidential palace in June.

According to local reports, hundreds of Yemenis have been killed and thousands more have been injured since the onset of the popular uprising against the Saleh regime.