Protests continue in Yemen as earlier hopes of Saleh’s departure have so far come to nothing. Today the Gulf States met and announced their support for replacing Saleh with a transitional government led by his Vice President with opposition involvement but one has to ask if this plan is really representative of opposition demands. Listen carefully to the young woman speaking yesterday in Sanaa at the Silent March to remember those killed by Saleh (see the video at left, she addresses us in America directly.)

She asks “How many of us must die until the United States sees our cause as just?”

Apparently a lot. Latest reports are that 180 protesters have been killed and 3,282 have been wounded by Saleh’s forces, armed with US weapons as part of our “war on terror.”

Over this weekend, large demonstrations continued in Sanaa and in Taiz – and the attacks on them have been brutal:

Saturday 9:45pm

YEMEN – Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Sanaa reports:

“We are hearing that there have been at least 200 injured [in Sanaa] according to one medical source, and around 15 of those injuries are form live ammunition.”

“We have reports [in Taiz] of over 500 people injured, 40 of those from live ammunition and at least five people are in critical condition. “

and goes on to report:

Our correspondent said the streets were littered with rocks and gas canisters, as police confrontations with tens of thousands of anti-government protesters continued in the capital. She reported a “very heavy handed approach by the authorities” and an upsurge in violence in towns across Yemen. “The police are becoming increasingly intolerant of protesters. It seems [president] Ali Abdullah Saleh is once again really trying to show his force.”

The BBC noted that protesters have seen snipers again on the roofs shooting at them and says:

Our correspondent says the sounds of single gunshots are consistent with the accounts from some protesters inside the area who say snipers are shooting at them from rooftops.

And even children are not safe:

SANAA: The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) office in Yemeni capital Sanaa, said Saturday that 24 children were killed and another 638 wounded during ongoing clashes between police and government supporters and anti-government protesters in Yemen. “As many as 24 children were killed and 638 others were wounded during the prolonged political crisis from Feb 18 to April 5,” UNICEF said in a statement obtained by China’s Xinhua news agency… In the statement, the UNICEF expressed its concern about escalating violence in Yemen, particularly with the high casualties in children, urging the government to comply with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international human rights law, whether Yemen was in a state of emergency or not.

Nadia Al-Sakkaf, editor-in-chief of the Yemen Times has an answer to the US waffling over the demands of the protesters:

I just returned from a two week visit to the United States. I visited Washington, New York and Los Angeles and met with many Americans of various political, religious and cultural backgrounds. I have also met with people involved in the US policy including journalists, experts and officials.??They all asked me about Yemen. The most common question is who or what comes after Saleh? They are all concerned about Yemen falling into the hands of fanatic Islamism or Al-Qaeda sympathizers… The war against terrorism is not a physical war with guns and troops. If we want a safer world we need to make people happier and less inclined to be involved in terror. And we do this through soft security, eradicating poverty and empowerment of civil society, especially women’s movements. ??It is about people and this is what we should emphasize to the American people, policy makers and the world.

Videos: The second two videos are the lastest reports from Sarah Ishaq who is in Sanaa and producing amazing documentaries of the protests there. Please watch and share widely, her work deserves our attention.