‘Trump, May, Macron, stop helping Saudi butchery of Yemen’

This video says about itself:

(25 Apr 2017) LEADIN:

Yemeni demonstrators have completed a 300 kilometre walk from the capital to the port of Hodeida.

Dubbed ‘the Bread March’, the event was a protest against food blockades in a country which is hurtling towards famine.

STORYLINE: After marching 300 kilometres, the demonstrators have finally reached their destination – but they still have the energy to shout. They’ve travelled on foot from Sanaa to the port of Hodeida for the Bread March, a protest against blockades. They say the port is an essential lifeline to them and that closing it completely would lead to catastrophe.

Seventy-two year-old Abdullah Al-Hababy says he took part in the long journey to Hodeida to “declare it a safe port that is the only remaining route of the Yemeni people”.

This event opposes the closure of the port by the Saudi-led coalition, blocking the main entry for much of the country’s basic supplies and staples. Currently any goods connected to the government are not allowed in this way, although some NGO and private trader’s products are still entering. Around 70 percent of humanitarian aid, on which 18.5 million civilians depend, comes through this port.

“Our civilisation will face this coalition and will not starve to death in our homes,” says Abdullah Al-Asbahi, spokesman for the Bread March. The Bread March left Sanaa on 19 March and walked through the main roads, stopping at villages along the way. Now the participants are welcomed into Hodeida by locals, energised by the passion of the cause.

Ezzuddin Al-Sharaaby, participant and head of media committee of the Bread March, insists the event is non-political.

“Our march on foot is to express our humanitarian demands of the Yemeni people and does not express political demands,” he says. Around 17 million Yemenis are classed as ‘food insecure’ according to the UN. It says almost one third of families have “gaps” in their diets, and are rarely able to eat things like pulses, vegetables, fruit, dairy products and meat. And half are buying their food on credit. Nearly 2.2 million children are malnourished, including half a million who are severely malnourished and at imminent risk of death if they do not receive urgent care and specialised treatment, UNICEF and the WFP said in a statement.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain today:

The UN human rights office reported that 115 Yemeni civilians have been killed over 11 days this month in blitzes by Saudi warplanes.

UN spokesman Rupert Colville said officials were “deeply concerned” about a surge in civilian casualties from air raids, with bomber targets including a TV station and a hospital in the Red Sea port of Hodeida.

A letter signed by 355 “high-profile” figures including eight Nobel peace prize winners, politicians and religious leaders, marked the 1,000th day of the war by appealing to Donald Trump, Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron to stop assisting the Saudi war.

“If you don’t want the burden of the lives of thousands more Yemeni children on your hands, then the time to act is now. Yemen can’t wait any longer,” it said.

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