Thousands of residents in Zinjibar, the administrative center of the occupied Abyan province, took to the streets on Saturday to protest deteriorating living conditions and worsening public services.
Demonstrators also denounced the “illegal levies” imposed by mercenary authorities loyal to the Emirati occupation on travelers and traders along the main highway linking Aden and Hadhramaut.
Protesters carried banners condemning financial and administrative corruption within the so-called “Southern Transitional Council,” demanding an end to the control of armed mercenary factions over the province’s revenues and a halt to ongoing violations against citizens.
They warned that the humanitarian and economic situation in the occupied southern provinces has reached an unprecedented level of collapse.
Participants in the demonstration said that the proliferation of extortion checkpoints along major routes has severely hindered transportation and trade, with excessive fees driving up the prices of essential goods and crippling local markets.
The protests come amid deepening crises across the areas under the control of the US-Saudi-Emirati coalition and its proxies, where basic services such as electricity and water have virtually collapsed. The Yemeni currency continues to plummet, fuel and food prices have skyrocketed, and insecurity persists amid the total absence of governance.
Local reports indicate rising public anger across the occupied provinces of Aden, Abyan, Lahj, Shabwah, and Hadhramaut, where people are decrying the coalition-backed authorities’ corruption, salary theft, and deliberate neglect. Mounting frustration over electricity blackouts, water shortages, and economic hardship has pushed thousands into the streets demanding change.
Observers say the unrest in Abyan reflects the broader failure of the American-Saudi-Emirati aggression and its mercenary administrations, whose policies of division, looting, and corruption have only deepened the suffering of Yemenis instead of offering real solutions to their years-long ordeal.
