World

Shiite rebels in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, fire into the air to disperse protesters, detain 11

Associated Press
Published | Updated

Protesters hold posters against Houthi Shiite rebels who hold the capital, Sanna, amid a power vacuum as they hold a demonstration in Sanaa on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2015. Some 20,000 marched Saturday across the capital, where demonstrators converged on the house of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who resigned Thursday along with his Cabinet. Arabic writing on the banner at right reads, "Militias do not build a country." (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed) (The Associated Press)

Protesters hold a poster depicting Yemen's President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, left, and Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, a leader of Shiite rebels who hold the capital, Sanna, amid a power vacuum, during a demonstration in Sanaa on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2015. Some 20,000 marched Saturday across the capital, where demonstrators converged on the house of Hadi, who resigned Thursday along with his Cabinet. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed) (The Associated Press)

Protesters burn a poster of Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, a leader of Shiite rebels who hold the capital, Sanna, during a demonstration in Sanaa on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2015. Some 20,000 marched Saturday across the capital, where demonstrators converged on the house of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who resigned Thursday along with his Cabinet. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed) (The Associated Press)

Rebels occupying Yemen's capital have dispersed a handful of demonstrators protesting against them, firing automatic rifles into the air, breaking journalists' cameras and scuffling with the crowd while detaining 11 people.

In another protest Sunday in Sanaa, around 200 demonstrators gathered in Change Square for a march toward the presidential palace. The square was the birthplace of Yemen's 2011 uprising against longtime autocrat Ali Abdullah Saleh.

State news agency SABA reported that parliament postponed a meeting which had been scheduled for Sunday to decide on whether to accept the resignation of Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who quit as president Thursday along with his Cabinet. Hadi remains at his private residence.

Meanwhile, U.N. envoy Jamal Benomar was in Sanaa meeting with Houthi representatives, as well a variety of Yemeni political parties.