‘Yemen’s uprising was magical, spiritual, powerful’

But that all changed when government forces fired on peaceful protesters. A Yemeni demonstrator remembers that day.

Ten years ago today, government forces opened fire on protesters in Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, killing 12 people. It was not the most deadly display of violence against protesters since demonstrations calling for the removal of the country’s dictator of 33 years, Ali Abdullah Saleh, had begun, but it was the moment when it became clear to many that he would refuse to cede power. As such, it marked a crucial turning point in the uprising. Taha al-Jalal, who I met in Sana’a in 2014 and later married after he moved to Italy, was 23 at the time and living at home in Sana’a with his parents and younger siblings. He was studying modern languages at the University of Sana’a, close to where the demonstrations had started in late January in an area that became known as “Change Square”.