“Our revolution continues against the ousted (president) and his family,” the protesters chanted, urging President President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi to drive out his predecessor’s allies.
Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh, a son of the veteran former leader who ruled in Sanaa from 1978 until earlier this year, commands the elite Republican Guards unit of the army.
Organisers of the march, which for security reasons avoided nearing Saleh’s residence guarded by gunmen, called for another demonstration on Friday to demand that Saleh’s family and close aides be purged from the military.
Under a Gulf-brokered transition deal, Saleh stepped down in February after a year-long deadly uprising. But he remains president of his General People’s Congress party, retains loyalty of army elements and owns a television station
Yemen is struggling to stand on its own feet nearly a year after Saleh was forced to step down following protests that divided the poor Arabian Peninsula state and pushed it deeper into political and economic crisis.
Hadi is struggling to implement a power transfer deal while trying to patch up divisions in the army and fighting al Qaeda in a US-backed military campaign.
Yemen is the main base for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which has emerged as one of the network’s most active and ambitious branches, carrying out attacks at home and abroad.
AQAP and Ansar Al Sharia group, its ally, seized parts of the southern Abyan province during the uprising against Saleh.
A US-backed military offensive has driven the militants out but has not prevented them from launching a series of attacks that have dealt damaging blows to the army and security apparatus
Southern secessionists say northerners based in the capital Sanaa have discriminated against them and usurped their resources since the unification of North and South Yemen in 1990.
