Socotra, Yemen’s exotic island outpost in the Indian Ocean, witnessed its first-ever riot on Sunday when hundreds of people took to the streets protesting about “an acute shortage of wheat and flour”.

The Yemen Post says they hurled stones at one of the Economic Corporation's stores and police opened fire to disperse the crowd.

Back on the mainland, and aside from the Houthi rebellion in the north, Yemen now has four regional protest movements: the Southern Movement, the Desert Alliance Movement, the Tihama Coast Movement and the Central Plateau Movement.

The Central Plateau Movement, based in Taizz, is the latest to be formed and will be formally launched “in the coming days”,according to the Yemen Times.

One of the organisers told the paper it “will lobby the public to learn about their rights and demand change. Petitions, demonstrations and sit-ins will be carried out. Protests will escalate and civil disobedience will be the last resort if the state does not react favourably to the people’s demands”.

Last week, yet another group – the Shabwa Council for Just Development – was formed by “members of the Shabwa intellectual and social community”. The Yemen Times says it is demanding that at least 70% of the governorate’s resources be invested in the welfare of the people of Shabwa.

Sheikh Saleh Fareed al-Suraima, head of the group, said: “All we are asking is for a fair, decent life, knowing that our governorate has been providing the whole republic with oil and gas. It is only fair that some of our own resources be used for the benefit of the locals.”

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 8 September 2009.