Houthi leaders in Sanaa established a new security formation named "community committees" to monitor the population and repress personal freedoms.
According to militia media sources, the group's leaders in Sanaa held several meetings with residential and neighborhood supervisors and officials in ten districts.
They formed the so-called "community committees," which include four to five committees in each directorate to supervise campaigns of repression and restrictions on freedoms.
According to the Houthi Saba Agency, leader Khaled al-Madani urged members of local councils, authorities, and directors of security departments to provide all facilities and support to the committees to ensure the success of the "soft war."
Madani, the supervisor in charge of Sanaa, said that the program would include closing stores that display advertisements with women and tightening control over cafes, restaurants, parks, institutes, and universities to prevent mixing between the genders.
The coup leader considered the campaigns against Sanaa residents as part of the group's inauguration of the program's second phase to boost the "faith march."
- Intensive mobilization activities
Well-informed sources in Sanaa told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Houthi militias are preparing about 5,000 workshops, events, and lectures targeting students in the primary and secondary stages.
The group launched the first phase of the same program targeting students of public and private schools in Sanaa under the supervision of its members in education, youth, and endowments.
The sources pointed out that the first stage witnessed more than 1,000 workshops and sectarian activities that targeted young people and children in all schools and orphanages in Sanaa and its countryside.
Yemenis are increasingly concerned about hardline Houthi ideologies and practices, and Sanaa residents fear that these violations will turn Yemen into a prison where the group imposes its ideas.
The residents of several areas under Houthi control previously complained to Asharq Al-Awsat about the militias' restrictions on their freedoms, noting that they introduce a new fad each time to tighten the measures more.
B.W., an employee in the education sector, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the militias are not much different from what extremist terrorist groups do.
- Abusive campaigns
During the past year, the Houthi militia launched campaigns against residents in its areas as part of its repressive and extremist measures.
They targeted women working in aid organizations, preventing activities that include mixing between males and females participate.
They also halted weddings and university graduation ceremonies because they encouraged mixing between genders.
The militants launched a campaign targeting women's clothing stores in Sanaa early last year, claiming they violated "faith values."
Owners of clothing stores complained about the return of Houthi raids, and some of them confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the incursions were sudden, as if they were raiding drug dens and not shops selling clothes.
They pointed out that the group ordered several shop owners to pay sums, while many were forced to pledge not to use the display models and mannequins again.
