Houthis Oppress Protesters Rallying against Poor Living Standards in Sanaa

People demonstrate to denounce the deterioration of Yemen's economy and the devaluation of the local currency. (Reuters)
People demonstrate to denounce the deterioration of Yemen's economy and the devaluation of the local currency. (Reuters)
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Houthis Oppress Protesters Rallying against Poor Living Standards in Sanaa

People demonstrate to denounce the deterioration of Yemen's economy and the devaluation of the local currency. (Reuters)
People demonstrate to denounce the deterioration of Yemen's economy and the devaluation of the local currency. (Reuters)

The Iran-backed Houthi militias in Sanaa resorted on Saturday to all forms of oppression to suppress a protest against poor living standards in the Yemeni capital.

The rally was called for by activists and staged amid heavy Houthi security presence.

Sanaa residents told Reuters dozens were arrested on Saturday, including 16 female students.

The students were released at the end of the day after signing a pledge not to take part in demonstrations again, one of them said, asking not to be identified for fear of retribution. She said female Houthi supporters “attacked us with electric shock batons and clubs, supported by armed men”.

“They beat me until I fell to the ground and I received an electric shock in the back when I stood up again. I wasn’t able to move when they took me to the police station,” she said.

Saturday’s protest was yet another sign of the people’s mounting frustration with the Houthis’ oppressive and sectarian rule.

The Houthis had dispatched their members to the streets in an attempt to prevent the protesters from holding their rally.

Social media activists documented the Houthis’ oppressive tactics against the demonstrators. They showed footage of Houthi attacks against dozens of students at Sanaa University. They also said that more than 50 students were arrested and taken to a police station.

The poor living conditions in Sanaa is blamed on the militias’ corruption and looting of state institutions. This has led to the deterioration of the currency and spike in consumer goods prices.

Prior to the protest, the Houthis had launched a social media campaign warning the people against staging their demonstration.

Female activists in Sanaa were singled out and they were the victims of insults by Houthi leaderships, as shown in footage published by activists on social media.

The league of mothers of kidnapped Yemenis condemned these insults, saying they go against Yemeni norms and traditions that put women in high standing.

It demanded the unconditional release of all detainees and that the Yemenis speak up against the Houthis’ insults.

"Yemen society is conservative and we did not believe that the Houthis would arrest women, as it is a shame in Yemeni traditions and taboos, but they did,” said Ahmed, an anti-Houthi activist whose name has been changed for security reasons.

He confirmed to AFP that not only Houthi women but also fighters participated in beating the women, then took them to al-Gudairi police station in an armed vehicle.

"The Houthi fighters transported the women to the police station, then on to an unknown location and took their mobiles so we cannot contact them", Ahmed said.

Prior to its 2014 coup against legitimate forces, the Houthis had claimed to support protests against corruption and high prices in Yemen, saying that it was the right of all Yemenis.

Ever since their coup, however, the militias now view protests as a threat to their sectarian existence.

On Thursday, a militia leader said that protests against poor living conditions should take the shape of fighting on the battlefield, not demonstrations against the Houthis on the streets of Sanaa.

His suggestion was met by ridicule among the Yemenis, who blame the militias’ poor management of institutions for the current state of affairs in the country.



Over 100 Patients to Be Evacuated from Gaza, WHO Says

 A youth salvages items from the rubble of a building destroyed in Israeli strikes in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on November 5, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A youth salvages items from the rubble of a building destroyed in Israeli strikes in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on November 5, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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Over 100 Patients to Be Evacuated from Gaza, WHO Says

 A youth salvages items from the rubble of a building destroyed in Israeli strikes in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on November 5, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A youth salvages items from the rubble of a building destroyed in Israeli strikes in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on November 5, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

More than 100 patients including children will be transferred out of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday in a rare medical evacuation from the Palestinian enclave during the Israel-Hamas war, a World Health Organization official said on Tuesday.

The WHO says fewer than 300 patients have been evacuated from Gaza since early May, when Israel expanded its military offensive southwards and took over the southern Rafah Crossing with Egypt, which had been used for medical transfers.

Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said the patients, including children with trauma injuries and chronic diseases, would depart in a large convoy via the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel.

Under arrangements made by the WHO, the patients will then fly to the United Arab Emirates from Ramon Airport in southern Israel, and some will travel on to Romania, he said.

"These are ad hoc measures. What we have requested repeatedly is a sustained medevac (medical evacuation) outside of Gaza," Peeperkorn told a press conference.

Asked whether Israel had approved the transfer, he said he was hopeful it would be facilitated by Israeli authorities.

He said more than 12,000 people were awaiting transfer, adding: "We cannot continue the way we do now."

COGAT, the Israeli military agency responsible for Palestinian affairs, says it actively facilitates the departure of seriously ill or injured patients, adding that the scope of such evacuations was determined by the capacity of organizations and countries to receive them.

As of last week, it said 10 groups of patients had been evacuated through Israel and it was willing to coordinate more.

Peeperkorn was part of a WHO convoy that on Nov. 3 provided some relief for the busy al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals in northern Gaza which he said were barely operational because of medical and staff shortages.

"For al-Awda we are very concerned because the hospital needs urgent fuel and medical supplies, otherwise it might become non-functional over the coming week," he said of the hospital in Jabalia, just north of Gaza City.

Israel accuses Hamas fighters of hiding among civilians, including in hospitals, in the war that began after the deadly Hamas attack on southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023.

In a night-time raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital last month, an Israeli military official said around 100 Hamas fighters were captured, some posing as medical staff, along with weapons. Hamas rejected the accusations.