Tens of thousands of Yemenis took to the streets of the capital on June 10 in parallel protests – one demanding the country’s wounded leader surrender any claim to power, another calling him back home. The rival demonstrations over the fate of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, forced abroad for surgery after an attack on his palace a week ago, highlighted the volatility of a country which Western nations fear could slip into chaos and give Al-Qaeda a regional foothold.
Thousands of anti-Saleh demonstrators filled Siteen Street in the heart of Sanaa demanding Saleh formally hand over power to his deputy, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, the acting president. Near the presidential headquarters, a smaller group of Saleh supporters gathered after Friday prayers to urge his return to a country wracked by months of demonstrations demanding the president’s ouster and crackdowns aimed at suppressing dissent. Saleh, Yemen’s ruler for three decades, has not been seen in public since being flown to Saudi Arabia for surgery following last Friday’s shelling attack on his palace.