Following Egypt, the President’s resignation is now required in Yemen

Thousands of Yemenets took to the streets of the capital of the country, calling President Ali Abdullah Salekh, who has been in power for more than 30 years, resigned, BBC reports.

It is reported that people began to gather in the early morning in four different regions of the city, including on the territory of the capital's university.

Gradually protesters, among which many students, merged into a single stream in the center of the sangs. They chant anti -government slogans and recall that such popular discontent in Tunisia ended with the overthrow of the president there.

The main claims of the demonstrators to the government are corruption prosperous in the country and an incorrect economic course. According to the Yemenis themselves, young people in the country are becoming more and more, and the standard of living is worse, therefore, with the current state of things in the future, Yemenic youth does not expect anything good.

In addition, protesters complain of the lack of political freedoms. In particular, they are worried that the parliament is trying to cancel the law that limits the deadlines of the presidential powers, as a result of which President Salekh can remain for life head of state. Ali Abdullah Salekh became at the head of North Yemen in 1978 and remained at the helm after the south and north of the country united in 1990, forming a single Republic of Yemen. In 2006, he was again re -elected as the head of state.

Mass protests on Thursday were preceded by smaller manifestations. Last Saturday, hundreds of students of the metropolitan university staged a demonstration in the university campus: some called on the president to resign, others expressed the conviction that he should remain in power. On weekends, Yemen’s authorities arrested a prominent activist of the human rights movement Tavakulu pocket, accusing her of organizing anti -government speeches. However, her arrest, on the contrary, provoked an even greater wave of protests.

On Monday, she was released, after which she stated in an interview with CNN, that a revolution began in her native country, the impetus for which was the so -called "jasmine revolution" in Tunisia. Protests in Tunisia put an end to the 23-year rule of President Zina Al-Abidin Ben Ali. The example of the Tunisians was already followed by the Algerians and the Egyptians, who also entered the streets with the demands of political changes.

President Salekh tried to calm the fellow citizens: on Sunday, he made a speech in which he urged them to show patience and forgive his mistakes. Last week, he proposed a constitutional reform: to ban the same person to run for the presidency for more than two terms in a row, while the term of powers of the president will be five to seven years. This week, he promised to increase the salary of state employees and military personnel by at least $ 47 per month, Reuters reports.

Deputy Minister of Finance Jalal Yakub admitted that the population is experiencing fair indignation, but, unfortunately, is used by all kinds of politicians. The government should listen to its people, he should carry out large -scale reforms and start with himself, said the official.

The discussion of constitutional amendments and electoral reform is not so important for ordinary Yemenis as jobs, food, education and utilities, such as water supply and power supply, the representative of the authorities believes. “For the past seven years, we have had a parliamentary majority, and we had to use this for the development of the country. We have plans, but they have serious problems with their implementation,” he added.

The main problems of the Yemenic economy are unemployment, a lack of fuel and drinking water. Almost half of its 23 million people live a maximum of two dollars a day, a third suffers from chronic hunger. The country is threatened by separatists in the south and rebels in the north. Jalal Yakub believes that in the event of events from under control, the country will be plunged into chaos-even worse than Tunisia, given the large number of weapons in the hands of the population.

The US Department of Defense is closely observing the development of events in Tunisia, Egypt and Lebanon. About this, reports Newsru Israel , said a representative of the American military department.

He did not cite additional details about the actions of the Pentagon against the background of events taking place in the Middle East and North Africa.