In Yemen, Protesters Clash With Security Forces

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MICHELE NORRIS, host:

And to Yemen now, where protests have spread to 14 of the country's 21 provinces. In the western city of Hudaydah, hundreds are injured after clashes between anti-government demonstrators on one side and security forces and pro-government crowds on the other. And in the Yemeni capital, Sana'a, as well as the central city of Taiz, pro-government forces fired tear gas and some live ammunition at protesters.

I spoke earlier with Laura Kasinof, who's been covering events for The New York Times. She gave us the latest from the capital, Sana'a.

Ms. LAURA KASINOF (Reporter, The New York Times): There is a continuous sit-in, 24/7, happening in front of Sana'a University. Every day, it grows larger. More and more tribesmen who are coming from the rural areas outside of the capital have been joining the sit-in, and it's been expanding. I would say now it's longer than a mile long. And people set up tents, and they stay there 24/7.

Now, there are, surrounding the sit-in, several of these pro-government plainclothes men who surround the protests. And there's more that come out at night, and there've been some tense moments in the past couple of nights. And actually last night, some of these pro-government thugs fired on the protesters, and they had a bit of a clash. And security forces dispersed the clash with tear gas, and I believe two, three people were shot last night. But no one was shot fatally.

So this is continuing on, and tensions are quite high. And just in the entire capital, we have a large military presence.

NORRIS: How closely are protesters there watching the events in the Middle East and in northern Africa, specifically what's playing out right now in Libya?

Ms. KASINOF: Oh, to a large extent. A few weeks ago, I was talking to some protesters in Taiz, which is a city in central Yemen. Taiz is home to Yemen's largest sit-in, and it's been the most organized protest and sort of an inspiration to the cities around Yemen.

And they said to me, oh, when Gadhafi falls, you know, this is going to have a big effect on Yemen. Because while Egypt is sort of - is the center of the entire world in terms of culture, and Egypt has a large influence, Yemenis feel closer probably to Libyans, because like Libya, Yemen is a tribal-based society. And like Libya, the president - Ali Abdullah Saleh's close relatives are the ones who control the military. So people certainly are watching the events happening in Libya.

And I would say the people who either are against the anti-government protests here or are indifferent, they watch what happens in Libya, and it certainly scares them. They told me that.

NORRIS: Laura, do me a favor. Help us understand the lay of the land in terms of the kinds of support that President Ali Abdullah Saleh has and where the protesters are coming from in terms of their age, their background and what they're asking for in these demonstrations.

Ms. KASINOF: Saleh, has for many years, he controls the northern part of the country, giving certain positions in the government to certain tribes. And so his support comes from certain tribes. Typically, these are tribes that are close to the capital that have in return received support from him.

Outside of the region around the capital, I would say that population as a whole are, for the most part, largely against the president and largely are calling for revolution.

NORRIS: Some of these protesters are actually asking those in political power there to engage in some sort of peaceful dialogue. We've seen the same thing in other - in unrest in other countries, in Bahrain, for instance. Is that possible in Yemen, that the violence that we're seeing flash up in parts of the country might be replaced with some sort of peaceful dialogue?

Ms. KASINOF: This is the hope of the United States, I would say. And they've come out and said that, you know, they want dialogue between all of the sides in Yemen. However, when I talked to the protesters, those in Sana'a and Taiz, it doesn't seem like this is an option.

You know, people will say to me, as clashes are happening, you know -and as actually this was a time when the security forces were firing actually on the protesters in Sana'a - and they said how can we have dialogue with this, you know? And they'll say this has been 33 years that Ali Saleh has been president. We're done with it. We're not going to have dialogue with him. We can't trust him. He's lied to us in the past. We aren't going to have dialogue.

So it doesn't seem like the talk is going to work. The only thing that they're going to accept is for Ali Saleh to step down.

NORRIS: Laura Kasinof, thank you very much for speaking with us. Please stay safe.

Ms. KASINOF: Great, thanks for having me today.

NORRIS: Laura Kasinof has been covering events in Sana'a, Yemen, for The New York Times.

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