Local Editor
Protestors gathered outside 10 Downing Street late Friday, demanding an end to the war in Yemen and the British government’s support of Saudi Arabia.
The demonstrations were organized by the Stop The War Coalition and Hands Off Yemen anti-war movements.
Protestors and campaigners held placards reading “Hey, hey, Theresa May, how many kids have you killed today?” and chanted slogans such as “Stop arming Saudi! Stop bombing Yemen!” and “Justice for Jamal!”.
“We believe that the murder of Jamal Khashoggi demonstrates the nature of the Saudi regime,” a senior campaigner of the Stop The War Coalition said.
“A regime that is capable of the arbitrary murder of a journalist and pretending the murder didn’t happen is a regime that is [also] capable of terrible war crimes in Yemen and pretending that they didn’t happen either.”
The campaign activist was skeptical that the British government would apply significant pressure on Saudi Arabia to accelerate a peace process in Yemen and said if Prime Minister Theresa May wanted to influence the Saudi monarchy, she should withdraw UK support for the Saudi military command.
“Unfortunately, we believe the British government is drifting and not applying pressure, so we believe British complicity with this war must end, and that is why we are here, to demonstrate our opposition and join the growing international movement which is demanding an end to the war in Yemen and the introduction of a peace process.”
The activists also demanded justice for Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was brutally murdered in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.
An estimated 8.4 million people in Yemen are at risk of severe famine and more than 22 million people, or 75 percent of the population, are in need of humanitarian assistance.
Impoverished Yemen has been wracked by conflict since 2014. The conflict escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its Sunni Arab allies launched a military campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi gains in Yemen and shoring up the country’s Saudi-backed resigned regime.
The war has resulted in a collapsed economy and a cholera outbreak that has affected over 1.1 million people.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
