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Political rallies in Hajr left undisturbed by authorities
SIDRA (Reuters) – As the first democratic elections in history in the nation of Hajr draw closer, there are signs that there have been further changes in the politics of the authoritarian Himyarite monarchy. Opposition parties, which are officially banned, have staged several large rallies in major Hajri cities over the past weeks. The rallies, which remained peaceful, were not broken up by the country's police forces. This is a major break with the past, when it was impossible to organize a political demonstration without severe harassment by the authorities.
Hajr will be holding its first fully democratic elections in little more than a week, on April 19. In response, several banned opposition parties in the country announced the resumption of their public activities, after having been driven underground following a repression campaign in the late 1990s.
The Islamic Development Party (IDP) staged a demonstration of several hundred to a thousand people in the suburbs of Sidra following Friday prayers over the past two weeks. This was followed by simultaneous rallies in Jerusalem, Sidra, and the northern port of Marj Ayyun, organized jointly by the Social-Democratic Toilers' Party (SDTP) and the Liberal Party on Saturday, which together brought more than fifteen thousand people onto the streets, according to a party spokesman. Finally, the communist Social-Democratic Party—Left (SDP-L) staged several protests against allegedly corrupt officials in the major cities of Hajr over the past week, which also involved several hundred people. All of the rallies remained peaceful.
In a break with tradition, the police forces of the autocratically-run country did not intervene in order to break up the rallies, which were the first major demonstrations to take place in a decade. Large amounts of riot police and paramilitary units of the national marechaussee had been mobilized, but these did not undertake action. No arrests of demonstrators occurred. This indicates that government policy toward political organizations may have been relaxed in a major way for the first time in decades. Three years ago, an attempt to stage a rally by the Communist Party ended in a violent government crackdown.
The Hajri government refused to comment on the issue when pressed for answers by Reuters. Nevertheless, it seems apparent that the closed royal government of Sultan Huseyn has abandoned its hard line toward opposition groups in favor of a more open process leading up to the elections. This state of affairs is accompanied by persistent rumors that the Sultan will allow party candidates to participate in the elections, which would be another first. These rumors remain unconfirmed by any official source, however.
SIDRA (Reuters) – As the first democratic elections in history in the nation of Hajr draw closer, there are signs that there have been further changes in the politics of the authoritarian Himyarite monarchy. Opposition parties, which are officially banned, have staged several large rallies in major Hajri cities over the past weeks. The rallies, which remained peaceful, were not broken up by the country's police forces. This is a major break with the past, when it was impossible to organize a political demonstration without severe harassment by the authorities.
Hajr will be holding its first fully democratic elections in little more than a week, on April 19. In response, several banned opposition parties in the country announced the resumption of their public activities, after having been driven underground following a repression campaign in the late 1990s.
The Islamic Development Party (IDP) staged a demonstration of several hundred to a thousand people in the suburbs of Sidra following Friday prayers over the past two weeks. This was followed by simultaneous rallies in Jerusalem, Sidra, and the northern port of Marj Ayyun, organized jointly by the Social-Democratic Toilers' Party (SDTP) and the Liberal Party on Saturday, which together brought more than fifteen thousand people onto the streets, according to a party spokesman. Finally, the communist Social-Democratic Party—Left (SDP-L) staged several protests against allegedly corrupt officials in the major cities of Hajr over the past week, which also involved several hundred people. All of the rallies remained peaceful.
In a break with tradition, the police forces of the autocratically-run country did not intervene in order to break up the rallies, which were the first major demonstrations to take place in a decade. Large amounts of riot police and paramilitary units of the national marechaussee had been mobilized, but these did not undertake action. No arrests of demonstrators occurred. This indicates that government policy toward political organizations may have been relaxed in a major way for the first time in decades. Three years ago, an attempt to stage a rally by the Communist Party ended in a violent government crackdown.
The Hajri government refused to comment on the issue when pressed for answers by Reuters. Nevertheless, it seems apparent that the closed royal government of Sultan Huseyn has abandoned its hard line toward opposition groups in favor of a more open process leading up to the elections. This state of affairs is accompanied by persistent rumors that the Sultan will allow party candidates to participate in the elections, which would be another first. These rumors remain unconfirmed by any official source, however.
