اضغط هنا لقراءة الخبر بالعربية
Tens of thousands took to Aden streets Thursday in support of the Emirati-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC), whose forces on Saturday seized full control over the Yemeni southern port city of Aden, seat of the internationally-recognized government, following 4-day fierce clashes with official army that left 40 people killed and 260 others injured, according to UN release.
The demonstrators called the international community and the Saudi-led coalition to "respect the south people's will in claiming the independence and handing the administration of the south to southerners through their representative, the STC."
In a statement, the demonstrators called also for "completion of liberating and purifying all the south lands in Hadhramout Valley, Abyan and Shabwa."
They raised flags of the Democratic People Republic of Yemen, which was ended by the Yemeni Unification in May 1990, along with Saudi and Emirati flags and pictures of King Salman bin Abdul Aziz and STC leaders, in absence of the Yemeni President Hadi's photos.
Separatists accuse the government of President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi of failure to provide Aden with public services, after four years of forcing the Houthis out of the southern port city.
The south hosts most of the Yemeni oil wells.
The UAE is a key player in a Saudi-led coalition that intervened militarily in the country in March 2015 to reinstate Hadi and his government.
Southern separatists have exploited Yemen's war to enhance their presence in the south, backed by the UAE that helped the STC establishment in May 2017 to consist of bodies calling for separation, but also trained and armed local forces under STC command.
The STC claims to be representative for Yemeni southerners and seeks to impose control over all the south, but it is not fully supported by people there.
