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Yemeni demonstrators decry Saudi military campaign

Thursday, 11 February 2016 3:22 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 11 February 2016 3:21 PM ]

Yemenis hold a demonstration in the capital, Sana’a, on February 11, 2016.

Thousands of Yemenis have taken to the streets of the capital, Sana’a, condemning the Saudi regime’s deadly military campaign against their country.

During the Thursday march in Sana’a, the Yemenis chanted anti-Saudi slogans and censured the United States for backing the Riyadh regime in its aggression against its southern neighbor.

Over 8,270 people, among them 2,236 children, have been killed and 16,015 others injured since the onset of the Saudi raids last March.

The strikes have also taken a heavy toll on the country’s facilities and infrastructure, destroying many hospitals, schools and factories.

Yemenis have responded with attacks against Saudi forces deployed in the country as well as targets inside Saudi Arabia.

A Saudi soldier is stationed at a military post on al-Dokhan Mountain on the Saudi-Yemeni border, in southwestern Saudi Arabia, on April 13, 2015. ©AFP

The demonstrators also carried banners in support of the 2012 uprising that led to the ouster of the country’s former ruler, Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen's al-Masirah news channel reported.

Saleh, who ruled Yemen for almost 33 years, stepped down in February 2012 after nearly a year of mass street protests against his leadership under a US-backed power transfer deal in return for immunity.

His deputy, UK-trained Field Marshal Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, replaced him on February 25, following a single-candidate presidential election.

Fighters of Houthi Ansarullah movement took control of Sana’a in September 2014 after their demands for more of a say in the political system was ignored by the government of Hadi. The revolutionaries also said Hadi’s government had been incapable of properly running the affairs of the country and providing security.

Hadi along with the cabinet of Prime Minister Khaled Bahah, stepped down on January 2015, despite Ansarullah’s calls against such a move.

Riyadh launched a military aggression against Yemen in March 2015 to reinstate Hadi after he fled to Riyadh.

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