| Summary: | Early 2011, as Yemen is in the grip of a revolutionary movement, two points of gravity appear in the capital of Sana’a. On the one hand, the President’s supporters, nicknamed « regime hooligans » (balāṭigat al‑niẓām), occupy Taḥrīr Square, one of the main squares in Sana’a, and drain it of most of its population. In the other hand, the anti‑regime demonstrators start a sit‑in which ends up taking over three kilometres of Sana’a’s ring road (al‑Khaṭṭ al‑Dā’irī). The demonstrators reorganize the area of the sit‑in, called Change Square, according to their slogans (non‑violent revolution, equality and the « civil state ») and stage daily events, open to all : conferences, workshops, concerts…This article aims to give an account of how these spaces operated on an everyday basis, to analyse their relation to the population, as well as the mechanisms at work, including the liminal nature of Change Square.
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