Houthi militia storms female school in Sana'a and assaults students and teachers physically and indecently

A number of Houthi gunmen on Sunday stormed an all-girls school in Yemen’s militia-held capital, Sana'a and committed physical and indecent assault on students and teachers after they refused to chant the Houthi group’s well-known anti-American-and-Jewish slogan, eyewitnesses said.

According to eyewitnesses, the militiamen, led by a person named "al-Tairi", broke into School of Sukaina located in the suburb of Bir Obeid to the Southeast of Sana’a, demanding the girls to repeat the militia’s own slogan.

Upon rejecting the Houthi leader’s orders by girls, the female teachers asked him to leave the school and not to bring politics into schools and among students.

Based on a female student’s statement, the Houthi militia leader began shouting insults at both students and teachers, and the schoolgirls in turn started protesting and chanting against him.

"The armed men assaulted us, and al-Tairi slapped one of the female students. Others got ready to shoot and bling panic rose within the school students and teachers. They insulted us and the teachers and did not respect us as women," stated the girl.

She pointed out that the leader of the Houthi militia left the school after closing the school gate using a padlock.

On his part, Sana’a’s education office director Mohammed Abdullah Al-Fadhli confirmed that al-Tairi asked Sukaina School’ students to stick the Houthi militia’s slogan on the school walls and chant it in the morning school assembly, adding that the rejection by students provoked fierce anger of the Houthi leader who slapped one of the girls.

He pointed out that he had met with al-Tairi and told him that that the school is only for education and should not be used for anything else, but he insisted on breaking into the school and sparking fears among girls and female teachers.

The Yemeni teachers 'union has threatened to declare a comprehensive strike in the various schools of Sana’a Secretariat and Yemen’s governorates as a result of this flagrant violation.