Responding to events around the region and the growing political tension within Yemen, on February 1st the president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, announced that he would not stand for re-election in 2013, nor would he permit his son, Ahmed, to succeed him. However, given that the demonstrations have since both persisted and spread (and become increasingly bloody), it appears that Mr Saleh's move has been deemed insufficient by the public, who no doubt remember his previous pledges in 1999 and 2006 to not stand again. (Both times he was "persuaded" to change his mind by state-organised pro-Saleh demonstrations.)

Mr Saleh had earlier made a concession to protesters by abandoning moves to alter the constitution that would have annulled the ban on a president standing for a third term in office, thereby clearing the path for him to prolong his rule (February 2011, The political scene). At the same time, he also announced that the legislative election would be further postponed (it had already been delayed by two years from its originally scheduled date of April 2009), in order to give time for the government and opposition to reinvigorate talks over reform.

The timing of these concessions failed to forestall a large protest that was scheduled for February 2nd, dubbed Yemen's "day of rage". The day itself passed off relatively peacefully, although the government managed to rally significant numbers of pro-regime supporters, who were able to occupy the central Tahrir Square in the capital, Sanaa, denying anti-government protesters access to a symbolic public space. A significant security presence was deployed around the city, with tanks and armoured vehicles clearly visible. The demonstrations attracted an estimated 20,000-40,000 supporters.