Yemen protesters urged to leave bin Laden posters at home

Harsher crackdown on protesters feared if focus turns to bin Laden

Posted May 2, 2011

Global Post

Sallam/FlickrPro-democracy activists demonstrate in the streets of Sana'a, Yemen, on March 11. Protesters have been told to refrain from carrying any images of Osama bin Laden following his death by U.S. forces Sunday.

Activists in the ancestral homeland of Osama bin Laden, Yemen, urged street protesters Monday not to raise banners of the al-Qaeda leader, killed Sunday by U.S. forces, to avoid inviting a harsher crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations.

Protesters said they hoped the death of bin Laden would not detract from the mission of those who have camped out for three months in public squares across Yemen to demand the departure of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has ruled autocratically for nearly 33 years and is a U.S. ally in the fight against al-Qaeda .

"We expect Saleh's regime to work to use al-Qaeda as evidence to confront the protests demanding his departure, but we will expose attempts like this," said Meshaal Mujahid, Reuters reports.

"To those in the protest squares across the governorates of the republic: Do not get absorbed by the matter of the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden," Yemeni protest organizers advised followers in a message on Facebook.

"Do not raise pictures or banners or mention bin Laden, as the [Yemeni] regime is planning now to exploit this issue for its interests," it added.

Mohammed Saad, in Sanaa, said: "We are not working with al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. We have one cause and it is the fall of the regime. This is what matters to us."

Bin Laden was killed in a firefight with U.S. forces in Pakistan on Sunday, ending a nearly 10-year worldwide manhunt for the leader of the global Islamist militant network that orchestrated the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

This article originally appeared on GlobalPost.