Amid Increasing of Poverty and Famine, Aden Preparing for New Civil Disobedience

Merchants in occupied Aden closed the doors of their stores on Tuesday in protest against the arbitrary measures taken by the armed gangs of the Saudi-backed government authorities against them, especially the escalation of the imposition of levies at gunpoint.

The move comes one week after Taiz merchants closed their shops for the same reasons.

Local sources in Aden said that a comprehensive strike has taken place in the areas under the control of the Emirati-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) militia in the Sheikh Othman district.

In a joint statement, merchants and owners of shops in the Sheikh Othman district called on the people of the district to go out on Wednesday, in demonstrations against the STC and the Saudi-backed government in protest against the crazy rise in royalties imposed on traders.

The statement also called on all shop owners in the city of Aden, as well as its people, to go on a comprehensive strike and civil disobedience, until removing the imposed taxes.

The calls come, in light of the continued deterioration of living conditions in the Yemeni areas controlled by the US-Saudi aggression, with the collapse of the currency, the looting of wealth and the absence of any remedies to save the economy.

The Yemeni areas under the control of the Saudi-Emirati occupation are witnessing loud waves of popular protests, in rejection of the starvation policies practiced by the coalition against Yemenis.

However, citizens complain about the lack of response by the Saudi-backed government to the popular protests, despite the aggravation of the living crisis as a result of the deterioration of the local currency rate.

Citizens accuse the US-Saudi aggression of creating hunger in the occupied territories in order to facilitate the process of controlling the country without any confrontation, by adopting the policy of starvation, which is prohibited in international law and humanitarian norms.