DEARBORN – City hall has long been the site of vocal protests from local community members, but on Saturday, Sept. 24, demonstrators stood in silence as a means of expressing their views on a key international issue.

A demonstrator holds a sign in support of the peaceful youth revolution in Yemen at City Hall last Saturday. Photo courtesy of Fawzi Yahya

About 200 members of the Yemeni American community joined protesters holding similar rallies in New York, California, Washington, D.C. Cairo, London, Berlin and more to protest the support of the Saudi Arabian regime to Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his Republic Guard led by his son, Ahmed Ali Saleh and to demand an end to the violence and the ouster of the regime. 

Saleh has now returned to the country from Saudi Arabia after seeking treatment for injuries suffered during the revolution. Dozens of peaceful protesters have been killed by government security forces since they began protesting after Saleh’s return to the capital city of Sana’a. 

The Dearborn protesters waved the flags of Yemen while taping their mouths shut to symbolize that their voice has been silenced as media attention has shifted away from the killings in Yemen. 

“The main objective of the demonstration was to protest and condemn the international silence from the Obama administration to the UN to human rights organizations,” said Abdulgalil Ahmed, an event organizer with the Committee for Supporting the Yemeni Revolution. 

Groups both against Saleh and for Saleh had used the City Hall steps for rallies prior to the revolution, which began peacefully led by millions of youth in the country and began earlier this year.    

But Saturday’s protesters wondered why nothing has been done about fresh rounds of violence. 

“With the media coverage, it looks like the revolution is being put on the back burner,” Ahmed said. “Thousands of Yemenis have been injured and hundreds killed, this is the longest revolution but it doesn’t have the attention of the international community.” 

Protesters held American flags as well, raising signs saying “Enough with the killing of Yemeni people,” “Ali Saleh should be tried in The Hague,” and photos of those who have been killed, including a 10-month old baby from Sanaa. 

The red tape on the protesters’ faces symbolized the Martin Luther King, Jr. quote, “At the end we will not remember the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.” 

Ahmed said he wondered why outside forces have been picking and choosing in regards to revolutions ranging from Libya to Yemen and others as to whether or not to intervene. 

Supporters of the revolution also plan to hold another rally at the Dearborn Civic Center lawn from noon to 2 p.m. on Friday, October 7 and then an event featuring dialogue with leaders of the revolution speaking live via satellite from Yemen on October 7 at the Yemeni American Cultural Center building in at 2770 Salina in Dearborn. 

“We support the Democratic process in the Middle East and reforms, especially because we enjoy great freedom, human and civil rights here in America,” Ahmed said. “The only thing Saleh did for Yemen is put his sons and nephews in power while looting the country.”