التقرير موجود باللغة العربية على هذا الرابط This article was published in Arabic here: http://www.nowlebanon.com/Arabic/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=436462&fb_source=message
“We demand the US ambassador in Yemen to be expelled. And if this doesn’t happen, we will continue protesting and we will be back again and again and again until we regain our sovereignty” Posted As’ad Al-Emad on his Facebook page to express his anger towards the anti-prophet movie. Mr. Al-Emad believes that violence, expelling the US ambassador, and the closure of the US embassy in Sana’a is the best way to express that the prophet is more important than any diplomatic ties.
“I took part in two demonstrations. One in the morning and another one at noon. We want to burn them all and we want to expel the US ambassador. They have insulted our prophet and I don’t care about those who claim we are painting a bad image about Yemen. Screw Yemen. The prophet is a red line” Said Mr. Al-Emad to “NOW”.
“I took part in two demonstrations. One in the morning and another one at noon. We want to burn them all and we want to expel the US ambassador. They have insulted our prophet and I don’t care about those who claim we are painting a bad image about Yemen. Screw Yemen. The prophet is a red line” Said Mr. Al-Emad to “NOW”.
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| (Angry protesters storm into the US embassy in Sana’a (As’ad Al-Emad |
Mr. Al-Emad, who is one of the revolution activists and a photographer for the media centre of the change square, claims he is not associated with any political party and criticizes all political parties that refused to take part in the protest. “They didn’t allow us to go on the change square’s stage to call for protests against the US, but we used Facebook and posters instead to call for the protest” Said Mr Al-Emad. He also stated that he feels proud of what he did even though he was attacked by anti-riot police. When asked about looting the embassy’s property, Mr Al-Emad laughed and said “yes, there was lots of looting. Everyone was looting. I’m against looting. We want to burn and vandalize, not to loot”.
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| (Death to America” written on the embassy’s walls. Looting taking place. (Facebook" |
Photos of protesters climbing the fence of the embassy (which is considered one of the most heavily guarded buildings in Yemen) and others looting embassy’s property went viral on the internet.
Mubarak Al-Bahhar – another revolution activist – took part in the angry protest but showed his dissatisfaction with how violent the protest went. He refused to participate in storming into the US embassy.
“We had many youth of different sects and political associations. The protest was not tied to a specific group or party. We wanted to “peacefully” express our anger toward the movie insulting the prophet. I don’t know how violent protesters carrying knives joined. They were shouting racist slogans such as ‘burn the Copts of the cross’. I tried to keep them quite but I couldn’t. I also noticed the absence of security guards throughout the way to the embassy. There was negligence on the part of security forces. We were all surprised how protesters managed to get to the embassy” Said Mr. Al-Bahhar.
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| (Angry protesters climbing the US embassy’s fence in Sana’a (Facebook |
“Before the protest, Central Security Forces used to be always present with their armored vehicles. No one could ever reach the embassy. There are two roads near the embassy which were always closed. Those who come to the embassy for visa purposes, had to stop at the beginning of the road (which is far from the embassy’s main gate) and have always been subject to intensive body search” Said Mr. Hakim who lives near the embassy but did not take part of the protest. Mr. Hakim adds “What happened today is pretty strange. There was negligence on the part of the security forces. How else could you explain protesters reaching the gate and climbing over it?”
Mr. Hakim recalled a protest organized by Yemen socialist party in the late 90s in which he participated: “We couldn’t reach the embassy. It was heavily guarded. During the revolution, we couldn’t reach the presidential palace. How could the youth reach the US embassy?” Asked Mr. Hakim.
Mr. Hakim wasn’t part of the anti-prophet movie protest. He believes that people were misled and that the way people live their daily lives defames the prophet more than the movie does. “Look at our society. We harass women on the streets. We allow child marriage. We fight over things that happened in the past. The movie is an insult but so are these things that take place on our streets on a daily basis. The only difference is that those who made the movie weren’t Muslims. But we are Muslims and the way we live our lives is the biggest insult to the prophet” Said Mr Hakim.
Mr. Hakim wasn’t part of the anti-prophet movie protest. He believes that people were misled and that the way people live their daily lives defames the prophet more than the movie does. “Look at our society. We harass women on the streets. We allow child marriage. We fight over things that happened in the past. The movie is an insult but so are these things that take place on our streets on a daily basis. The only difference is that those who made the movie weren’t Muslims. But we are Muslims and the way we live our lives is the biggest insult to the prophet” Said Mr Hakim.
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| A protestors on top of the US embassy’s building raising a “No god but one god, Mohammed is the prophet of god. (Facebook) |
Special Thanks to my dear friend Sam Arafat for translating the report in 15 minutes:)
