Yemeni Communities in U.S. Organize Vigils Demanding U.S. Aid to Saudis Stop
Yemeni communities staged protests across the United States in August demanding that Washington halt its support for Saudi-led attacks on Yemen. The protests mark the first anniversary of Saudi Arabia’s bombing of a school bus in Yemen on August 9th of last year. About 40 Yemeni children were killed on a school trip and 56 were injured. CNN said the weapon used was a laser-guided bomb made by Lockheed Martin and sold to the Saudi government. The bomb was part of billions of dollars in weapons exported by the US government.
In Detroit, protesters gathered in downtown on August 23rd. An activist in the Yemeni Coalition Committee, told the Detroit Free Press that The role of the United States is vital, and if we can withdraw US support, we can help end the war.
According towww.workers.org, US lawmaker Rashidah Taleb from the 13th constituency in Michigan participated in the protest said that “we need political courage here in the United States to talk about Yemen.”
In San Francisco, the Yemeni coalition committee in the Gulf area organized a protest against the US involvement in the conflict in front of the office of Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi. The blue school bags symbolize the children killed in the Saudi air strike on Dahyan on Aug. 16th were put on the ground to represent those kill kids.
The US has provided the Saudi coalition with a range of military assistance to attack Yemen, including providing fuel to Saudi planes bombing civilians, satellite information for bomb targets, and US military forces working with the Saudis. The war on Yemen has created a huge humanitarian crisis for the Yemeni people.
According to a report by the United Nations World Food Program, in June 2019, more than 24 million people in Yemen need humanitarian assistance, 3.3 million are still displaced, and 24.1 million people, more than two-thirds of the population, need assistance, according to the UN, which describes the humanitarian crisis in Yemen as the worst in the world today.