Protests in Yemen’s Aden against UAE presence

Protests have erupted in the Yemeni province of Aden against the United Arab Emirates’ presence after the Emirati-backed Security Belt Forces arrested the leader of the Southern Resistance, Walid Al-Idrisi, from his home on Sunday.

Al-Idrissi was arrested after slogans calling to expel the UAE were sprayed on the city’s walls.

Local sources in Aden said the “security belt” forces clashed with Al-Idrissi and his men on Sunday at the Martyrs’ Aquare in Al-Mansoura area in order to arrest him, but he managed to escape to his house. According to the sources, the forces chased him and arrested him there. He was later transferred to the headquarters of the UAE administration in the region of Brega.

Social media activists circulated a video clip of young men spraying “Down with the UAE occupation” on the city’s walls amid mounting calls for the UAE to stop intervening in Yemeni affairs.

The UAE joined a Saudi-led Arab coalition fighting in Yemen against the Iran-backed Houthis and forces loyal to ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The coalition entered the war in 2015 to reinstate the UN-backed President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi. However in recent months the UAE has been found to be backing the Southern Transitional Council in an effort to split Yemen in to two countries, North and South, contrary to the objectives of the coalition.

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