Yemeni women burn their veils to protest crackdown

Yemeni women have set fire to a pile of traditional female veils Hundreds of Yemeni women have set fire to a pile of traditional female veils to protest the government's brutal crackdown against the country's popular uprising. The act of women burning their clothing is a symbolic Bedouin tribal gesture signifying an appeal for help to tribesmen.
Wednesday's protest in the capital Sanaa comes as clashes intensify between forces loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh and renegade fighters who have sided with the opposition in demands that the president step down.
Medical and local officials say up to 25 civilians, tribal fighters and government soldiers died overnight in Sanaa and the city of Taiz despite Saleh's ceasefire announcement late on Tuesday.
Saleh has clung to power in the face of more than eight months of massive protests against his rule.
The violence, meanwhile, flared as the government's declaration of a truce with rival forces failed to materialise.
In the capital Sanaa, at least seven armed tribesman loyal to powerful Sheikh Sadeq Al Ahmar were killed in clashes overnight in the Hasaba district, the home of the chief and his extended family who have been battling government troops for weeks.
The government announced on its defence ministry website that nine of its soldiers fighting Sadeq's tribesmen and rival forces loyal to dissident General Ali Mohsen Al Ahmar were also killed overnight.
Yemen has witnessed one of the longest and bloodiest uprisings of the "Arab Spring" that since January left hundreds of Yemenis dead and thousands more wounded.
Saleh has for more than nine months refused despite intensifying regional and international pressure to heed the call of the tens of thousands of Yemenis that have been marching in daily protests demanding his resignation.
The political stalemate has crippled the Yemeni economy, weakened the central government, and prompted defections from Saleh's staunchest allies.
Mohsen and Sadeq, once Saleh loyalists, are now his enemies having thrown their support behind the protest movement as their troops battle Saleh's forces in increasingly deadly street clashes.
On Tuesday, the government declared a truce with Sadeq and Mohsen's forces, but within minutes of the announcement, gunfire and explosions were heard throughout the city.
The violence erupted as the US State Department said Saleh pledged he would sign the Gulf Co-operation Council initiative and step down. Saleh, who has ruled Yemen for 33 years, has repeatedly failed to fulfil promises to step down.