Yemen parliament approves 30-day state of emergency

[News_Editor]

Yemen parliament approves 30-day state of emergency

2011-03-23 20:46:07 GMT+7 (ICT)

SANAA, YEMEN (BNO NEWS) -- The Yemeni Parliament on Wednesday approved a 30-day state of emergency, which was requested by President Ali Abdullah Saleh, with only half of the 301-member body participating in the vote.

All of the members of parliament (MPs) who showed up belong to Saleh's party, as opposition and independent MPs refused to attend the session, which now gives additional power to security forces, allowing them to detain and prevent protests.

Only one day after Yemen's opposition rejected an offer by Saleh - who has ruled the country for 32 years - to step down after a parliamentary election in January 2012, they are now calling the vote illegal and unconstitutional as the number of lawmakers who voted in the session was below the legal limit.

On Tuesday, Saleh said the nation had been in a crisis for more than two years and blamed the unrest on a foreign agenda. He said some hostile media outlets exaggerated about the situation in Yemen and played a major role in influencing people and security officers to hurt Yemen's stability.

President Saleh said that young people who talk about a youth revolution are victims of obsolete political forces.

Some military commanders on Monday announced that they joined the popular and peaceful uprisings demanding the ouster of Saleh. Also, several Yemeni ambassadors to foreign countries announced their support to the uprising. Yemen's Foreign Ministry, however, dismissed on Tuesday the media reports and only confirmed that the Yemeni envoys to Egypt, Japan, Jordan, Syria, the Arab League and the United Nations have resigned.

On Sunday, Saleh fired his government and then designated it as caretaker until a new government is formed. The announcement came after 52 protesters were killed by security forces on Friday.

Yemeni protesters have been demanding the resignation of Saleh for the past two months. Yemeni protesters, mostly young, are fighting against soaring unemployment rates, poverty, widespread corruption and patronage.

The demonstrations were initially inspired by the Tunisian revolt, but they gathered momentum with the success of Egypt's revolution. President Saleh has pledged not to seek his reelection in 2013 or hand over power to his son.

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