Visit to Revolution ‘Birthplace’ Shows Yemen Still on Edge
A Yemeni women wears a lock around her wrist with the name of the intellectual and cultural heart of Yemen,Taiz, painted in red on her hand. (photo by AFP PHOTO/STR)
TAIZ, Yemen — Inside a tent at Freedom Square, a sketch shows a young man, his mouth agape as blood streams from his forehead. He clutches the ends of his blue shirt, and across his chest, three Arabic letters in red, white and black — the colors of the Yemeni flag — spell out this southern city's name, Taiz.
Such graphic images comprise makeshift memorials in this square, the site of clashes during last year's uprisings that led to the ouster of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who ruled the country for 33 years. But the displays are not merely a remembrance of the past, as some in this city say the revolution has not run its full course. Eighteen months on, activists and political figures question the progress since Saleh's fall and suggest that foreign influences are looking to stir up divisions in the country.
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