Yemeni parliament gives president emergency powers

FE Team | Published: March 24, 2011 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

SANAA, Mar 23 (AP): Yemen's parliament enacted sweeping emergency laws Wednesday after the country's embattled president asked for new powers of arrest, detention and censorship to quash a popular uprising demanding his ouster. The move escalates the showdown between Ali Abdullah Saleh and the movement that has unified military commanders, religious leaders and protesting youth in demands for his immediate departure. The state of emergency suspends the constitution, allows media censorship, bars street protests and gives security forces 30 days of far-reaching powers to arrest and detain suspects without judicial process. Youth leaders at the Sanaa square that has become the epicenter of the protests dismissed the move. "It is the revolution that now decides the future of the nation," said Jamal Anaam, one of the protests' leaders. We pay no attention to the measures." The accelerating conflict has raised fears that Yemen could be pushed into even greater instability. Rival factions of the military have deployed tanks in the capital, Sanaa - with units commanded by one of Saleh's son protecting the president's palace, and units loyal to a top dissident commander protecting the protesters. The White House has been reluctant to weigh in on the situation in Yemen, except to urge an end to violence. The Obama administration appears to be trying to avoid choosing between an increasingly unpopular Saleh and an opposition that Washington doesn't fully understand and could be hostile to U.S. efforts in Yemen.