Shoe thrown at Yemeni president in U.S.

PanARMENIAN.Net - A man was arrested on Sunday, Feb 5, after a protest at which at least one shoe was thrown at the Yemeni president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, outside a hotel on Central Park South.

The New York Times reported that when Mr. Saleh emerged from the Ritz-Carlton hotel about 2:30 pm, a small crowd of demonstrators began shouting at the president. One man charged toward him, crossing a street against police orders, then took off his shoe and “attempted to throw” it, a police spokeswoman said. The man was arrested for disorderly conduct.

Another man got off a cleaner throw of his shoe and nearly hit the president, said Ibraham Qatabi, a spokesman for the Yemeni American Coalition for Change, a group of opponents of Mr. Saleh’s who were at the demonstration.

“People got emotional,” Mr. Qatabi said in a telephone interview Sunday night.

The police said about 20 people attended the protest.

Several Yemeni-Americans have criticized Mr. Saleh’s presence in the United States since he arrived on Jan 28, to be treated for injuries he suffered when a bomb exploded in the mosque of the presidential palace last June.

During the Arab Spring uprisings, many Yemenis protesting Mr. Saleh’s rule were killed, injured or imprisoned. In November, Mr. Saleh, who ruled Yemen for more than three decades, agreed to transfer power to his vice president. Elections have been set for Feb 21.