--- description: TIME contract photographer Yuri Kozyrev captures the tense atmosphere of Change Square, the locus of anti-government protests in Yemen’s capital, which has become a veritable tent city. title: Change Square: Yuri Kozyrev Photographs Protestors in Yemen image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41fa4052fd4877d0/698799d80b72e39b6e6df0c8/koy201110010081.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [LightBox](/tag/time-section-lightbox/) ## LightBox Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Yemen's Change Square: Occupy Sana'a by [Aryn Baker](/author/aryn-baker/) ## Aryn Baker Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 31, 2011 8:00 AM CUT  Protestors gather in Change Square in Sana'a on October 1, 2011, near the makeshift prayer wall adorned with portraits of those killed in clashes with security forces. Protestors gather in Change Square in Sana'a on October 1, 2011, near the makeshift prayer wall adorned with portraits of those killed in clashes with security forces.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME by [Aryn Baker](/author/aryn-baker/) ## Aryn Baker Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 31, 2011 8:00 AM CUT Change Square, the locus of anti-government protests in Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, has become a veritable tent city, home, for more than eight months, to several thousand protestors. And like any city, it caters to the needs of its citizen population: Doctors tend to the wounded at a makeshift hospital, volunteers prepare food, imams call the faithful to prayer, and a few entrepreneurs provide entertainment in the form of pellet-gun rifle ranges for revolutionaries frustrated with the peaceful part of their protest. But unlike other cities, where the dead are forgotten in far away cemeteries, the martyrs of Change Square are at the center of attention. Photographs of those killed in the clashes flutter from the tent ropes that crisscross the city’s walkways. Portraits are plastered on the walls of the mosque. Some protesters even wear bandanas printed with pictures of the dead wrapped around their forehead. And in the center of the square is a vast billboard where the protest’s grim toll is laid out in a mosaic of death intermingled with pride. “We all want to be martyrs,” one young protestor told me. “To have change, we need to sacrifice, and sometimes that means our lives.” His friend agreed. “The only way we will get international attention for our cause is if there is blood on the streets.” It’s a subtle condemnation of waning interest from the West as the Arab Spring moves into its ninth month. Thousands waving placards demanding the fall of the regime no longer garner the fevered media attention of Tunisia and Egypt. But death does. So in service to their dreams of liberation, some Yemeni revolutionaries aspire to the snipers bullet, or the machine gun spray. Not all of course. “I don’t want to be a martyr,” another protestor told me. “I want to see our dreams of a new Yemen come true.” _Yuri Kozyrev is a contract photographer for_ TIME _who has covered the Arab Spring since January. To see his previous work from Libya, click_ [_here_](http://lightbox.time.com/2011/03/24/dispatch-from-libya-photographs-by-yuri-kozyrev/#1 "undefined")_._ _Aryn Baker,_ TIME_‘s Middle East Bureau Chief, is based in Beirut. Find her on Twitter at_ [_@arynebaker_](http://twitter.com/#%21/arynebaker "undefined")_. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s_ [_Facebook page_](http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#%21/time "undefined") _and on Twitter at_ [_@TIME_](http://twitter.com/#%21/time "undefined")_._  Protestors gather in Change Square in Sana'a on October 1, 2011, near the makeshift prayer wall adorned with portraits of those killed in clashes with security forces. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME  A Yemeni protestor waves posters of demonstrators recently killed during clashes in Syria on September 30, 2011. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME  Saddam Nazhwan, 25 from Al Mahweet, was wounded by gunfire during protests. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME  "I am ready to sacrifice to bring the change," said Saleh Ali Ahmed, 40, who was shot by security forces. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME  Posters of demonstrators killed during protests decorate makeshift housing in Change Square on September 29, 2011. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME  Afternoon prayers in Change Square on September 29, 2011. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME  Anti-government protestors chew khat inside Change Square on September 30, 2011. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME  Tariq Naji, 18, recently wounded during protests in Sana'a. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME  Saleh Al Huthaify, 60, shot by sniper fire during protests in Sana'a. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME  Demonstrators gather around the bodies of protestors recently killed during clashes with security forces at a funeral in Change Square on September 30, 2011. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME  A Yemeni woman outside of a makeshift tent on September 29, 2011. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME  Young girls scramble onto a fence during a protest in Change Square on October 1, 2011. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME  "Victory or death. Even if my legs and hands are cut and even if my children are dead, we have to change," said Ameer Ahmed, 33, recently wounded in clashes with security forces. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME  Abdullah Al-raimi, 21, recently wounded during protests in Sana'a. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME  Demonstrators sit inside makeshift tents on September 29, 2011. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME  A pellet-gun rifle range provides entertainment in Change Square on September 29, 2011. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME  Protestors during prayer on October 1, 2011. 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