Dearborn crowd protests bombing of Yemen

Dearborn — Waving flags, carrying signs bearing graphic photos of mutilated children and chanting in Arabic, hundreds of Yemeni- and Arab-Americans gathered Sunday to protest the Saudi Arabian-led bombing campaign of Yemen, which was in its 11th day.

"What's going on in Yemen is genocide," Yemeni-American activist Wali Altahif said during the protest outside the Henry Ford Centennial Library on Michigan Avenue in Dearborn that included area religious leaders and activists. "They're bombing schools, hospitals and killing innocent civilians."

Altahif said most of the Dearborn protesters have family in Yemen. "They're terrified," he said. "They have no food, no electricity, and the bombing has been nonstop, day and night."

The Saudis are trying to push back Shiite rebels known as Houthis who took over the Yemeni capital Sanaa in September and eventually forced President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to flee to Aden, the country's second-largest city in the south, after putting him under house arrest.

The combined force of Houthis and loyalists to former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Hadi's predecessor, is now advancing on Aden and seeking to tighten their hold on this nation of 25 million on Saudi Arabia's southern border. Security forces loyal to Saleh control elite forces and large combat units in the Yemen military.

Hadi has since fled to Saudi Arabia, and the coalition campaign has yet to stop the rebels' push to take control of the south.

On Sunday, Yemeni Shiite rebels, making an aggressive bid for power in the impoverished Gulf state, arrested more than 100 members from a rival Islamist Sunni political party, including two leaders, the party said in a statement.

Adnan Alwazer, shouting to be heard above the chants of the protesters in Dearborn on Sunday, said his mother and sisters are still in Yemen. "There is no reason for the bombing," he said. "What they're doing is against humanity."

Altahif added: "War does not solve anything. The Yemeni people have agreed to a negotiation that is, ironically, a Saudi initiative. Unfortunately, the Saudis started bombing Yemen."

At least two women who showed up at the Dearborn library, Nahla Saaidi and Aazal Hail, never left their sport utility vehicle and drove away after a woman screamed at them and leaned into their open window.

"We're from south Yemen, and we agree with what the Saudis are doing, because they're trying to get the terrorists out of Yemen," said Saaidi. "These people at the rally don't speak for all Yemenis. They're identifying with the (deposed) president (of Yemen). ..."

Hail said the Saudis are trying to prevent civilian deaths. "We don't want civilians to die, so I'm thankful the Saudis are interfering."

Meanwhile, fierce fighting in Aden continued between the Houthis and allied forces and popular committees loyal to Hadi. The rebels are making a push on the neighborhood in Aden that houses the presidential palace and the local television station.

Critics of the Houthis allege that the rebels are proxies for regional Shiite powerhouse Iran. On Sunday, a senior Iranian official called for a halt to the bombing.

The Associated Press contributed.