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NEWS & LETTERS,
January-February 2003
Our Life and Times
Protest in Yemen
Several hundred thousand marched in the funeral
procession of Jarallah Omar, deputy secretary-general of the Yemen Socialist
Party (YSP) on Jan. 1. Chanting "no for violence and murder, yes for
peace," "murder and assassination is the language of cowards,"
and "we want a Yemen without terrorism," the crowd stretched over a
mile on its way to the cemetery. Omar was killed on Dec. 28 by an Islamic extremist, who
told police of his plans to kill other "secularists" as well. Evidence
of a plot to kill the local head of the Ismailis, an offshoot of Islam, also
turned up. Among the tendencies represented in the funeral march,
besides the YSP itself, were the Nasserite nationalists, the ruling General
People's Congress, and even members of Al-Islah, the large Islamist party of
which the assassin was a member. Muslim scholars also met to condemn terrorism
against both Yemenis and foreigners, even if carried out in the name of Islam. |
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