Three sit-ins staged in Freedom Square [Archives:2007/1065/Front Page]

Saddam Al-Ashmouri
For Yemen Times
SANA'A, July 4 ) Three different sit-ins were staged on Tuesday in Freedom Square across the Cabinet's headquarters. Masses took part in the sit-in including Journalists, University students, political activists, even Taxi drivers and kidney patients association.

This sit-in was the eighth in solidarity with Women Journalists without Chains organization and Al-Nass Establishment for Press and Publication. They also demanded that the Minster of Information stops suppressing, blocking and censoring media in Yemen.

The demonstrators also denounced the terrorist act that targeted Spanish tourists in Mareb and stressed the importance of freeing mass media in order to be able to fight extremism and extravagance.

They further voiced their solidarity with journalist Abdulkarim Al-Khaiwani who was abducted by security forces a week ago in violation of the law, together with trailing him in illegal and unconstitutional State Penal Court and fabricating fake accusations about him.

Chairwoman of Women Journalists without Chains Organization called on demonstrators to continue their sit-ins till their demands are fully achieved and also announced the launch of the semiannual report on press violations in Yemen.

Meanwhile, a second sit-in was staged in the same area by kidneys patients who demanded the Health Ministry stop prescribing fake and uncertified medicines which are imported by particular businessmen in a corruption scam involving the ministry, as these medicines will result in catastrophic impact on the health of patients.

The administrative assistant of Al-Rahmah Association for Liver and Kidneys Patients stressed that their demonstration aims to attract the attention of decision makers to the practices of the Ministry of Health that pays no attention to Yemeni citizens' lives; while its main concern is to buy fake medicines at low costs and thus saving the difference to their pockets and earning commissions on the expense of patients.

He added we would like Parliament and the Cabinet to work in halting the deterioration taking place in the Health Ministry as well as halting the massacres against citizens resulting from replacing high quality and effective medicines just to boost the sales of the favored medicines.

The third demonstration was organized by taxi drivers and the unemployed and they demanded that the government takes serious actions in order to provide employment. Taxi drivers demanded that the police stops seizing the taxi vehicles that bear numbers from governorates other than the Capital an Sana'a governorate, saying that any taxi driver should be able to drive his taxi anywhere in the country.

Speaking in the name of drivers, Ali Al-Aswadi of the Taxi drivers association noted they demand the immediate release of their vehicles from the Traffic Administration as these vehicles are only source for their income and livelihood.

Al-Aswadi questioned about the nature of such campaigns that target citizens, hinting it are enough for them to bear the price hikes and over taxation in addition to inflation?

“We are here to ask for our rights in a peaceful way. We are in a democratic country and every one should go with his car wherever he likes and without any restrictions or hindrances, its one unified country for god's sake, why the authorities is behaving in a separatist way?” cried Al-Aswadi.

The silence dominated the scene and the sadness was clear in the faces of the demonstrators over the incident of Mareb and they decided to send letters of condolences to the victims' families.
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