Yemenis turn Friday prayers to political rallies

Tens of thousands of Yemenis turned Friday prayers into rallies for and against President Ali Abdullah Saleh who is recovering from injuries sustained in an assassination attempt earlier this month. Witnesses said Saleh opponents packed Sixty Street to listen to a Muslim preacher urge acting President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to do more to end a stand-off over demands that Saleh quit to allow Yemenis to chose a new leader.
"We have sacrificed all what we own, you should sacrifice what you can," the preacher said, addressing Hadi. Hadi told CNN that Saleh was so severely injured in the assassination attempt that it is uncertain when he will return to the country after his treatment in Saudi Arabia.
Yemen, a southern neighbour of Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, has been rocked by months of protests by tens of thousands demanding Saleh end his 33 years in power. The United States and Saudi Arabia fear that Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda, which has established a foothold in southern Yemen, might exploit the unrest to carry out attacks in the region and beyond.