1,000s of Yemenis rally outside local UN office after deadly airstrike blamed on Saudi-led coalition
Tens of thousands of angry protesters, many of whom were armed, took to the streets of Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, to protest an airstrike on a funeral ceremony that left over 150 dead and hundreds injured and call for an investigation.
Demonstrators at a massive rally called the ‘Volcano of Rage’ gathered outside the UN office in Sanaa.
Tens of thousands of angry protesters, many of whom were armed, took to the streets of Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, to protest an airstrike on a funeral ceremony that left over 150 dead and hundreds injured and call for an investigation.
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| Armed people demonstrate outside the United Nations offices against Saudi-led air strikes on funeral hall in Sanaa. (Photo: Reutes) |
Demonstrators at a massive rally called the ‘Volcano of Rage’ gathered outside the UN office in Sanaa.
“After this massacre, we are more determined to confront the assailants,” prominent rebel leader Mohammed Ali al-Huthi told the crowd, as quoted by AFP. “Open the fronts with the Saudi enemy immediately.”
The attack was condemned by the UN’s Secretary General, while White House National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said Washington was “deeply disturbed.”
Russia’s Foreign Ministry condemned the funeral attack and called for “the most thorough and objective investigation” that would bring the executors and organizers of the crime to justice.
A repeat of such tragedy can only be avoided “through the cessation of violence and the resumption of full-fledged political process, in which the Yemenis themselves determine its future without external interference,” the ministry stressed.
UK Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood said he will raise concerns over the “shocking” incident with the Saudi ambassador in London.
Though the airstrike is said to be the deadliest attack on non-combatants in the months-long Saudi-led operation against Houthi rebels, it is not the first time Yemeni civilians have been targeted.
One of the deadliest attacks to date took place when the coalition’s aircraft attacked a crowded marketplace in the northern Yemeni village of Mastaba in April. UNICEF put the death toll from that bombing airstrike at 119, including 22 children.
In August, at least 11 people were killed and 19 injured in an airstrike that hit a hospital in northwestern Hajjah province, according to Doctors Without Borders.
