SANAA/NEW YORK: Yemeni militias on Wednesday dispersed a protest in Sanaa staged by dozens of women demanding the handover of the body of slain former President Ali Abdullah Saleh for burial.
“There is no god but Allah and the martyr is a friend of Allah,” the women shouted in front of the Saleh Mosque, named after the former president, and the largest in the capital.
Witnesses say the protest lasted less than an hour before Houthi militias violently dispersed it. Video footage of the women fleeing the scene was posted on social media.
Witnesses said a second group of women gathered in front of Sanaa Military Hospital, shouting, “The people want the remains of the leader.”
It was unclear on Wednesday whether the Houthis had already buried Saleh’s body, according to the Agency France-Presse.
The previous day, Khaled Hussein Al-Yamani, Yemen’s permanent representative to the UN, revealed that the UN’s special envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, told a closed session of the UN Security Council that Houthi militias are assassinating leaders of Saleh’s General People’s Congress party (GPC).
Al-Yamani said Houthi militants have executed “thousands” of people in the past two days, adding that there is an agreement to evacuate UN humanitarian workers from Sanaa in light of recent developments.
Koro Bessho, president of the UN Security Council, said the council strongly condemns the missile attacks carried out by Houthi militias against Saudi Arabia, stressing that the council has imposed an arms embargo on the rebels.
Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, called for a negotiated settlement.
In Washington, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said that Saleh’s murder would either push the conflict toward UN-led peace negotiations or create an “even more vicious war.”
Either way, he suggested, in the short-term, it would likely worsen an already dire humanitarian situation “for the innocent people” in Yemen.
“This is where we’ve all got to roll up our sleeves,” Mattis said. “What are you going to do about medicine and food and clean water and cholera? I think there has got to be a lot more focus on the humanitarian side right now.”
In another development, the Houthi militias have detained more than 40 media staff, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Wednesday, demanding their immediate release.
They reportedly include staff of Yemen Today — a channel affiliated with Saleh. Houthis overran the channel’s Sanaa offices on Saturday, attaching with rocket-propelled grenades and wounding three guards the press watchdog said.
“This hostage-taking is typical of the climate of hostility in Yemen toward journalists, who are often targeted in this conflict,” said RSF’s Alexandra El-Khazen.
A GPC official said some of the detained staff had since been transferred to prison while others were still being held in the television’s offices.
“The Houthis were exerting pressure on them to change their coverage, to issue certain statements, and report the betrayal of former President Saleh and accuse him of working for the Arab coalition. But the journalists refused to do it,” the official said.
A spokesman for the Committee to Protect Journalists called for the immediate release of the journalists, saying the Houthi attack on Yemen Today “shows profound contempt for press freedom.”
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Houthis execute ‘thousands’ in two days: UN’s Yemen envoy
Houthis execute ‘thousands’ in two days: UN’s Yemen envoy
France’s homeless wrap up to survive at freezing year’s end
PARIS: In the biting cold, homeless friends Danish and Sylvain walked briskly in the dark toward a hot meal distribution point, rubbing their hands together, their huge backpacks weighing down on their shoulders.
“If you stop, the cold seeps into your bones. As long as we’re walking, we’re producing heat,” said 50-year-old Danish, a Pakistani who asked to withhold his surname to avoid embarrassing his France-based family.
Temperatures in France have dropped in recent weeks and are expected to hover around zero in many areas on New Year’s Eve.
Several French regions including Paris have increased shelter beds to help the homeless, but reports have already emerged of some appearing to have frozen to death.
Sylvain, 52, said he and his companion checked the weather forecast on their phones every night to best prepare.
The Frenchman, who also did not want to give his surname to protect his three children, said he wore six layers on his chest — a t-shirt, a jumper, a fleece, a waistcoat and two jackets.
“The trick is to let air between the layers. If it’s too tight, there’s not much isolation,” he said.
He also wears tights and two pairs of socks, and he tops it all off with a beanie, a cap and a furry hat with flaps.
“You lose heat through the top of your head,” he said.
Neither he, nor his companion Danish, drink alcohol, he said.
“It makes you numb so you don’t know when you’re cold, and you can slip away during the night,” Sylvain said.
- ‘Sleep without fear’ -
This winter has already proven deadly.
A homeless man was found lifeless in a Paris street on Sunday, likely having frozen to death, a police source said. He had been staying in a nearby shelter.
On Christmas day, a 35-year-old homeless person was found dead in the northern city of Reims, a prosecutor said.
There are no recent official figures on homelessness in France. But the Housing Foundation, a charity, estimates 350,000 people do not have a permanent home — including 20,000 who sleep rough nationwide. Many in Paris are undocumented migrants.
More than 900 people without a home died throughout the year in 2024, on average aged 47, according to a charity called Dead in the Street.
Paris authorities say they have set up emergency shelters in sports halls and schools to help during the cold wave, while charities too have added beds to their facilities.
At a charity-run shelter in Paris, which provides bedding for more than 370 people on seven floors, volunteers have been handing out hot meals.
Nakunzi Fumiasuca, a 36-year-old from the Democratic Republic of Congo, said he had been living in a tent until he was offered a bed.
“Here I can sleep without fear,” he said.
Taha Nouri, a 32-year-old who arrived in France from Libya in 2021, came after the charity brought him in, telling him he could stay for a week.
“I was able to have a shower, eat well, see a doctor and get medicine,” he said.
But Danish and Sylvain say their calls to a hotline to request shelter never go through.
Instead they have been sleeping rough in one of the main train stations in Paris — always trying to watch out that no one steals their blanket.
“When you have one stolen and it’s cold, it’s a disaster,” said Sylvain. “Your only option is to ride the night bus around Paris until dawn.”
- ‘Time stopped’ -
Danish said he came to France with his father three decades ago and was working as a waiter, but ended up in the street after a dispute with his boss three months ago.
“I’m deeply ashamed sometimes,” he said. “I don’t want my family to see me like this.”
Sylvain said he worked as a cleaner for 15 years before a painful separation from his wife in 2022 pushed him into the street.
When he left, his three children were eight, 12 and 16, he said.
“Time stopped,” he said.
He speaks to them on the phone every week, but tells them he is “staying with a friend.”
Until they can find a solution, the two men plan their lives around the capital’s free food distributions.
Keeping clean is difficult as public bathrooms are often closed or out of hot water, Sylvain said.
But Danish insisted they do their best with cold water.
Sometimes there are good surprises. Last week, a charity handed Sylvain what he said was “a real present.”
“It had everything: a hat, toothpaste, cotton buds and even perfume — not the cheap kind,” he said.
But at the weekend, Sylvain said, he had to rip out two teeth himself to stop a throbbing toothache.
“I gave them a good yank and now it’s sorted,” he said.
“If you stop, the cold seeps into your bones. As long as we’re walking, we’re producing heat,” said 50-year-old Danish, a Pakistani who asked to withhold his surname to avoid embarrassing his France-based family.
Temperatures in France have dropped in recent weeks and are expected to hover around zero in many areas on New Year’s Eve.
Several French regions including Paris have increased shelter beds to help the homeless, but reports have already emerged of some appearing to have frozen to death.
Sylvain, 52, said he and his companion checked the weather forecast on their phones every night to best prepare.
The Frenchman, who also did not want to give his surname to protect his three children, said he wore six layers on his chest — a t-shirt, a jumper, a fleece, a waistcoat and two jackets.
“The trick is to let air between the layers. If it’s too tight, there’s not much isolation,” he said.
He also wears tights and two pairs of socks, and he tops it all off with a beanie, a cap and a furry hat with flaps.
“You lose heat through the top of your head,” he said.
Neither he, nor his companion Danish, drink alcohol, he said.
“It makes you numb so you don’t know when you’re cold, and you can slip away during the night,” Sylvain said.
- ‘Sleep without fear’ -
This winter has already proven deadly.
A homeless man was found lifeless in a Paris street on Sunday, likely having frozen to death, a police source said. He had been staying in a nearby shelter.
On Christmas day, a 35-year-old homeless person was found dead in the northern city of Reims, a prosecutor said.
There are no recent official figures on homelessness in France. But the Housing Foundation, a charity, estimates 350,000 people do not have a permanent home — including 20,000 who sleep rough nationwide. Many in Paris are undocumented migrants.
More than 900 people without a home died throughout the year in 2024, on average aged 47, according to a charity called Dead in the Street.
Paris authorities say they have set up emergency shelters in sports halls and schools to help during the cold wave, while charities too have added beds to their facilities.
At a charity-run shelter in Paris, which provides bedding for more than 370 people on seven floors, volunteers have been handing out hot meals.
Nakunzi Fumiasuca, a 36-year-old from the Democratic Republic of Congo, said he had been living in a tent until he was offered a bed.
“Here I can sleep without fear,” he said.
Taha Nouri, a 32-year-old who arrived in France from Libya in 2021, came after the charity brought him in, telling him he could stay for a week.
“I was able to have a shower, eat well, see a doctor and get medicine,” he said.
But Danish and Sylvain say their calls to a hotline to request shelter never go through.
Instead they have been sleeping rough in one of the main train stations in Paris — always trying to watch out that no one steals their blanket.
“When you have one stolen and it’s cold, it’s a disaster,” said Sylvain. “Your only option is to ride the night bus around Paris until dawn.”
- ‘Time stopped’ -
Danish said he came to France with his father three decades ago and was working as a waiter, but ended up in the street after a dispute with his boss three months ago.
“I’m deeply ashamed sometimes,” he said. “I don’t want my family to see me like this.”
Sylvain said he worked as a cleaner for 15 years before a painful separation from his wife in 2022 pushed him into the street.
When he left, his three children were eight, 12 and 16, he said.
“Time stopped,” he said.
He speaks to them on the phone every week, but tells them he is “staying with a friend.”
Until they can find a solution, the two men plan their lives around the capital’s free food distributions.
Keeping clean is difficult as public bathrooms are often closed or out of hot water, Sylvain said.
But Danish insisted they do their best with cold water.
Sometimes there are good surprises. Last week, a charity handed Sylvain what he said was “a real present.”
“It had everything: a hat, toothpaste, cotton buds and even perfume — not the cheap kind,” he said.
But at the weekend, Sylvain said, he had to rip out two teeth himself to stop a throbbing toothache.
“I gave them a good yank and now it’s sorted,” he said.
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