The recent wave of uprisings in the Middle East And North Africa has also hit Yemen. In January this year thousands of Yemenis started demonstrating in the capital Sanaa and elsewhere demanding resignation of president Ali Abdulla Saleh, who has been in power for more than 30 years. Military crackdowns on protesters followed in many cities which killed a number of people and wounded many (read the Global Voices Special Coverage for details). The notable thing is that more and more women protesters have joined the demonstrations.

Woman protests against the government at Sana'a University. Image by Giulio Petrocco. Copyright Demotix.

Ghaida'a al Absi from the Rising Voices grantee ‘Empowerment of Women Activists in Media Techniques (EWAMT)‘ from Yemen has this update:

There is thousands of Yemeni demonstrating in Yemen everyday. There has been more than a month of protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has been in the power for 33 years. Thousand of people in Taiz,Ibb,Sana’a Aden…etc are demanding the departure of the president. From Time to Time, the president supporters, and thugs shot fire on the protestors, and causing death.

The beauty of what is going on in Yemen is that the first time to see such an organize demonstration in Yemen. For instance, it is not allowed for the protestors to carry a weapon especially that most of the Yemenis are armed. They have medical camp, Media camp, and camp for discussions. In addition, They have put the strongest men and tribes on the first line of demonstrations next line is for the other youth, and women.

She provides videos of the Friday massacre where 52 protesters were killed and more than 200 were injured.

The members of EWAMT project share there experiences about the uprising. Kholoud at Ambitious project writes:

The winds of revolution and change are moving from country to country and this time from Tunisia it went to Egypt and now is on its way to Libya, Bahrain and our Yemen close to the breathing winds of revolution to be saturated by the lungs of looking forward to freedom, pride and revolt against the corruption. All those who want to say Enough .. we are fed up with bright and false promises .. We want a radical change among all the leaders that became synonymous with corruption, injustice and arrogance on the citizen .. People are fed up with vampires and their race and their efforts to fill their needs and personal assets … (machine translation)

Here is a video showing the repressions by the security forces on the demonstrators:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZrGRJOXQCI

Ebtisam Al-Mohmmdy at Yemeni Notes writes:

Soon in Yemen, noted that the protesters wanting freedom are women campaigners in the face of dictatorship, oppression and tyranny …[..] these women did not retreat even one step back, despite threats of attacks[..] I could not go out during the last period to participate in demonstrations demanding to bring down the system and bring about a change in the government system in the country but from Almukd heard that opportunity is coming, God willing. [..] Victory for the People of Yemen ……. victory for women struggling. (machine translation)

It may be noted here that Yemeni blogger and journalist received threats for her role in the protests.

Nabiha Kadiri expresses herself in a poem [ar] while discussing about the uprising.

A recent report in Yemen Observer recognizes the rise of Yemeni bloggers, especially women, who are making their voices heard and expressing controversial views that could not be expressed elsewhere.