Local Editor

A number of US citizens as well as activists gathered outside the Saudi embassy in Washington to voice their outrage over Saudi Arabia’s policies in Yemen, and to call for the release of the prominent cleric Sheikh al-Nimr.

Hundreds of people from northern states in the US arrived in Washington to demonstrate outside the embassy and the White House, according to Tasnim dispatches.

Protesters chanted slogans such as "Saudis are terrorists" and "release Sheikh al-Nimr" outside the Saudi embassy, and then marched towards the White House to continue demonstrations.

Ann Wright, retired US army colonel and former state department official who resigned one day ahead of the onset of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq to protest the decision, also took part in the demonstration. She also slammed the White House for supporting Riyadh.

On March 26, a Saudi-led coalition backed by the United States began to carry out a military aggression on Yemen by launching airstrikes against the country in a bid to restore power to the fugitive former Yemeni president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Saudi Arabia.

The airstrikes have not been authorized by the United Nations [UN].

Over 2,615 civilians have been killed in the conflict in the last six months, according to the UN. Yet, other organization put the death toll at much higher. According to the Yemeni health ministry, the death toll from the Saudi-led aggression against Yemen so far is more than 6,000, adding that 1,277 of those killed were children.