Demonstrators took to the streets of numerous cities throughout Yemen yesterday in what appears to have been the biggest nationwide protest for some years.

Organised by the Joint Meeting Parties (the main opposition grouping), the demonstrations highlighted a host of grievances, including poverty, hunger, price rises and government repression.

Although protests in the south are now routine, the those in the north show that public discontent is not confined to the southern separatists and ought to be a worrying sign for the government.

Reports: Reuters, AFP, Sahwa.net, Yemen Post.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 16 April 2010.