« DGod is great! Death to America! Death to Israel! Curse on the Jews! Victory for Islam! » In unison, tens of thousands of people brandish their fists or Kalashnikovs, and shout the Houthi motto. Every Friday since the start of the war in Gaza, after the great midday prayer, the streets of Sanaa are covered with pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
On a stage, protected by special forces in combat gear, Sultan Al-Sadeh, a young Houthi influencer on social networks, warms up the crowd. His slogans snap like gusts of wind. “The anger is great. People are demanding escalation, including military escalation,” he explains. A drone flies over the crowd. The images of this human tide covered in Palestinian flags will then feed the media in the service of propaganda.
White-hot Yemeni protesters
From all over the Yemeni capital, thousands of people converge on foot towards the monumental al-Saleh mosque, built by the former dictator and renamed the “people's mosque” by the Houthis. Street vendors displayed Hezbollah and Hamas flags and portraits of their “martyr” leaders. We see families and schoolchildren in scout uniforms, who have come to pay their respects at the tomb of Houthi leader Saleh Ali-al-Sammed, killed in 2018 in an airstrike. A 5-year-old child, in military fatigues, carries a pretend rocket launcher.
Clusters of teenagers, especially groups of men, arrive dressed in their traditional outfit: djellaba, suit jacket and belt decorated with a jambiya, the dagger, to which is most often attached a small plastic bag filled with leaves. of khat, a plant with stimulating effects that Yemenis chew for hours, with their cheeks swollen, regardless of the diet in place. Many of them are armed.
The saturated speakers alternate music and political-religious sermons. The crowd gathered along an avenue for a good hour, behind three rows of officials and notables, ministers of the Houthi government, their faces serious… But also the head of the local Hamas office, Mohammed Abou Chamala, a Gazan. “This great gathering gives us courage and brings the spirit of Palestine to life,” he said. Beside him, weapon brandished, stands the head of Yemen's tribal council, Sheikh Rassam.
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Kangaroo of the day
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Blazing hot, intoxicated by khat and slogans, tens of thousands of people fall into a collective trance. Then comes the government representative, the Deputy Prime Minister responsible for military matters. We must put “an end to the Zionist occupation,” he warns. Because “the Jews are eager for conquest and will not limit themselves to Palestine and Lebanon, they will invade the holy places of Islam, Mecca and Medina, and Yemen. » Every Friday, Ansar Allah and its militiamen mobilize a fanaticized army, ready to launch into a new war.
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