Pro-UAE factions suppress first protest demonstration in Socotra

SOCOTRA, July 20 (YPA) – The Yemeni island of Socotra witnessed on Thursday an unprecedented military deployment of UAE-backed factions following the announcement of angry protests condemning the deteriorating living conditions and high prices.

Sources familiar with the island confirmed that the spread of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) factions came under the directives of the Emirati representative, “Khalfan Al Mazrouei”, to the governor to suppress the protests that moved to the island after the southern and eastern provinces

This follows a call for protests issued by the Preparatory Committee, which is supported by local leaders, in response to the worsening living conditions of the island’s people, who are cut off from services, and the rise in prices caused by the imposition of the UAE dirham on citizens.

According to the sources, a number of local officials are planning to quit collectively in protest of the sad conditions that the island’s population have reached.

Activists from the people of the island accused the STC of participating with the UAE in starving the people of Socotra and displacing them from it indirectly, and of tending to suppress any protests calling for improving living conditions and providing fuel and necessary requirements.

The Emirati electricity company “Dicsam Power” had imposed a fine of 1,000 dirhams on citizens on the island in exchange for restoring electric current service, after confiscating the generators of the Yemeni Electricity Corporation during the past years.

YPA