AP – Yemeni army soldiers in charge of protecting anti-government protestors, take a break after receiving … SANAA, Yemen – Yemen's parliament enacted sweeping emergency laws Wednesday after the country's embattled president asked for new powers of arrest, detention and censorship to quash a popular uprising demanding his ouster.
The move escalates the showdown between Ali Abdullah Saleh and the movement that has unified military commanders, religious leaders and protesting youth in demands for his immediate departure.
The state of emergency suspends the constitution, allows media censorship, bars street protests and gives security forces 30 days of far-reaching powers to arrest and detain suspects without judicial process.
Youth leaders at the Sanaa square that has become the epicenter of the protests dismissed the move.
"It is the revolution that now decides the future of the nation," said Jamal Anaam, one of the protests' leaders. We pay no attention to the measures."
The accelerating conflict has raised fears that Yemen could be pushed into even greater instability.
Rival factions of the military have deployed tanks in the capital, Sanaa — with units commanded by one of Saleh's son protecting the president's palace, and units loyal to a top dissident commander protecting the protesters.
The White House has been reluctant to weigh in on the situation in Yemen, except to urge an end to violence. The Obama administration appears to be trying to avoid choosing between an increasingly unpopular Saleh and an opposition that Washington doesn't fully understand and could be hostile to U.S. efforts in Yemen.
The adoption of the state of emergency was a virtual certainty because Saleh's ruling party dominates the 301-seat legislature. Opposition and independent legislators stayed away from Wednesday's parliamentary session along with dozens of lawmakers from Saleh's own ruling party. Parliament said more than 160 lawmakers were present Wednesday.
There was no breakdown available of the vote, which was done by a show of hands amid chaotic scenes. Some dissident lawmakers questioned whether the chamber had the necessary 151 members present when it voted, arguing that only about 130 legislators were there.
"The vote is illegitimate," said independent lawmaker Abdul-Razzak al-Hijri.
Saleh, who has worked closely with a U.S.-offensive against the Yemeni branch of al-Qaida, has already dramatically increased his crackdown on anti-government demonstrators, with his security forces shooting dead more than 40 protesters on Friday in Sanaa.
On Tuesday he offered to step down by the year's end, but the opposition rejected his offer.
He also warned that the country would slide into civil war following the defection of senior army commanders to the opposition.
Tribal leaders, diplomats, lawmakers, provincial governors and newspaper editors have also joined the opposition.
Saleh, who has ruled Yemen for 32 years, also called Tuesday for a dialogue with the leaders of the youth movements leading the protests at the central Sanaa square that has been renamed Taghyeer, or change.
The defection on Monday of that commander, Maj. Gen. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, a powerful regime insider who commands the army's powerful 1st Armored Division, has been seen by many as a major turning point toward a potentially rapid end for Saleh's nearly 32-year rule. He is also a member of Saleh's Hashid tribe.
Clashes broke out late Monday between Saleh's Republican Guard troops and dissident army units in the far eastern corner of the country. On Tuesday, Republican Guard tanks surrounded a key air base in the western Red Sea coastal city of Hodeida after its commander — Col. Ahmed al-Sanhani, a member of Saleh's own clan — announced he was joining the opposition.
The turmoil raised alarm in Washington, which has heavily backed Saleh to wage a campaign against a major Yemen-based al-Qaida wing that plotted attacks in the United States.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, on a trip to Russia, said Tuesday that "instability and diversion of attention" from dealing with al-Qaida is a "primary concern about the situation." He refused to weigh in on whether Saleh should step down.
Slideshow:Anti-Government Demonstrations in Yemen
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110323/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_yemen
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