Yemen Snapshot: Young Protesters "Lose Control of the Cause They Started" (Boone)
Yemen’s young people, who began holding anti-government protests outside of Sanaa University five months ago, have lost control of the cause they started.
A consortium of political parties — which, although have for years stood in opposition to President Ali Abdullah Saleh, still represent for most Yemenis a corrupt government system — have effectively hijacked the protest movement.
In the tent city where it all began, now known as Change Square, it is entrenched politicians belonging to the so-called Joint Meetings Parties (JMP), a fragile coalition of opposition groups that includes Islamists, Nasserites, and Cold War-era socialists, who have taken control of the stage and the microphone.