Yemeni president threatens Houthis

Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi has threatened to take firm action against Houthi anti-government protesters.

On Wednesday, the president made the threats at a meeting with ambassadors from 10 foreign countries, held after a massive Houthi demonstration in the capital Sana’a, the Yemen Post reported.

Hadi called “Houthi crowds” a threat to the impoverished country’s “national security and social harmony.”

Hadi’s government has offered to reverse the decision to cut fuel subsidies and form a new government in the Arab country, but Houthis insist that the government should resign.

On August 20, thousands of Houthis strengthened their positions in Sana’a in their efforts to press the Yemeni government to resign.

Since then, Houthi activists have been holding daily rallies in Sana’a with tens of thousands taking part.

Yemen’s Shia Houthi movement draws its name from the tribe of its founding leader Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi.

The Houthi movement played a key role in the popular revolution that forced former dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down.

Saleh, who ruled Yemen for 33 years, stepped down in February 2012 under a US-backed power transfer deal in return for immunity, after a year of mass street demonstrations demanding his ouster.

NT/MAM/MHB