Tent City of Protest

The center of protest in Yemen's capital city of Sana'a has turned into a massive tent city, with more than 4,000 tents and a variety of services, public spaces and pop-up industries.

1 minute read

July 4, 2011, 11:00 AM PDT

By Nate Berg


"What started as a sit-in has turned into an experment in democratic society. In the last four months, between 3,000 and 4,000 tents have been pitched in the streets of the university district in the Yemeni capital Sana'a. The tent city includes pharmacies and a makeshift hospital, four daily newspapers, auditoriums, a garden and hastily constructed cement memorials for the martyrs.

It is a city of citizens, a taste of what Yemen could become, a concrete utopia made of tarps, pallets, satellite dishes and a hodgepodge of power cables the protesters have audaciously connected to the grid in the ancient city. There is a "diplomats' tent" and a tent for actors; there are daily poetry readings and demonstrations; there is even a prison."

The tent city has been up for almost five months, and even has designated streets and street names.

Thursday, June 30, 2011 in Der Spiegel

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