Yesterday, the city of Aden witnessed a successful civil disobedience movement that paralyzed most of the city’s streets.
The movement was protesting the continuous power outages, the collapse of basic services, and the deterioration of living conditions.
The civil disobedience, called for by activists from Aden over the past few days under the slogan “For Humanitarian Reasons,” was an extension of the angry popular protests against the occupation and its affiliated government, expressing discontent with the deteriorating conditions in the city, which has been under occupation control since the second half of 2015.
Most shops closed their doors yesterday morning in response to calls for civil disobedience, amid widespread public outcry from citizens and taxi drivers who expressed their dissatisfaction with the deterioration of basic services, despite the occupation’s failure to respond to their repeated demands.
The demands of the civil disobedience focused on the sustainable provision of electricity and water, the improvement of living conditions, and addressing the catastrophic collapse of the local currency, which has exacerbated the suffering of citizens in all aspects of life.
Coinciding with the civil disobedience, a number of young people in Mansoura and other areas of Aden blocked main streets with stones and burning tires.
Angry popular protests are expected to escalate in the city and other areas under occupation control.
Meanwhile, the city of Mukalla, the capital of the oil-rich Hadramaut Governorate, which is under occupation control, is suffering from a stifling electricity crisis, with daily power outages lasting more than 18 hours.
This crisis coincides with the intense heat wave hitting the city and the coastal districts overlooking the Arabian Sea, especially with the onset of the “Arbaeen” season, known for record-breaking temperatures.
The power outage crisis worsened after the implementation of a new rationing system that requires electricity to be on for only two hours, followed by a five-hour power outage.
The residents of Mukalla and the coastal districts face a sharp deterioration in living conditions amid the absence of any radical solutions to address the collapse of basic services by the occupation and its affiliated government.
The collapse in services and living conditions has sparked widespread discontent in Hadramis, amid calls for nightly demonstrations to demand reform and accountability for those involved in corruption.
It’s worth noting that the suffering of citizens in Hadramout and other southern governorates (Aden, Lahj, and Shabwa) recur annually due to the inability of the pro-occupation government to provide fuel for power plants and implement economic solutions to alleviate the suffering of citizens.
