Following two years of political activism, Yemen die-hard revolutionaries decided to say their final goodbyes to Change Square, confident they had achieved what they came out to do, confident the transition government, under the leadership of President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi would translate their democratic aspirations into actions.
On Thursday, April 18th, 2013 Yemen revolutionaries claimed their final victory on the former regime, marking the end of Yemen Arab Spring movement.
Over the course of two years, Yemen, the poorest country of the Arabian Peninsula witnessed more change to its institutions and social structure than in the past three decades.
Emboldened by Tunisia and Egypt revolutionary movements, Yemen Youth, a generation which so far believed its future held no promise, discovered in the power of a united crowd that its dreams were indeed within reach, should it be brave enough to reach for it.
As Yemen Youth descended to the streets to reclaim its future, older generations came to join them, in an unprecedented show of support and solidarity. Beyond political affiliations, tribal ethnicity and social status, Yemen as a nation forged its new identity on the back of the revolution; unity was born.
As the dust settles now in the Square, as revolutionary songs die down in the air, only history will remember that on the streets of the capital, men and women bled and die for their dreams freedom and right to political self-determination.
Applauded by the international community for its successful transition of power, Yemen was able to maneuver its way through an al-Qaeda insurgency, calls for secession in its southern territories as well as an economic and humanitarian crisis of titan proportion.
On Thursday, the Organizational Committee of the Popular Youth Revolution and Youth Groups announced in a statement it was suspending its activism and call for demonstrations across the country, satisfied now that Yemen was safely engaged on a democratic path.
Tawakkul Karman, 2011 Nobel Peace prize winner, who rose to fame through her tireless opposition to then-President Ali Abdullah Saleh's regime, could not help but rally the troops around Yemen's next revolutionary goal: "cleansing the state from corruption."