Yemen talks turn brawl as slipper thrown at rebel leader
Geneva
The Geneva press conference by Yemeni rebels turned into a brawl broke Thursday when their leader was attacked by a slipper-wielding woman as the UN's mediator scrambled to revive deadlocked peace talks.
The dramatic attack underscored the deep divisions between the various sides involved in trying to get Iran-backed rebels and the Saudi-backed exiled government to agree to a badly-needed humanitarian truce.
Ansarullah member Hamza al-Huthi, who heads the rebel delegation at the talks, was addressing reporters when a woman in a headscarf barged in and threw a slipper at him.
The delegate, whose Shiite group is more commonly known as the Huthis, promptly threw it back.
She was quickly joined by six men who shouted slogans against the rebels and started raining blows at them, screaming, "Killers, you are spreading death and disease in South Yemen."
Once order was restored, Al-Huthi said the rebels wanted "a humanitarian truce but it is not wanted by Saudi Arabia and its allies" who launched air strikes in Yemen on March 26.
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