Bread march reaches key Yemen port

HODEIDAH, Yemen: Yemeni protestors reached the Red Sea city of Hodeida on Tuesday, ending a weeklong march from the capital to demand the rebel-held port be declared a humanitarian zone.

Some 25 protestors made the 225-kilometre walk, dubbed the "march for bread", to call for unrestricted aid deliveries to Yemen, where Iran-backed Huthi rebels have battled government forces allied with a Saudi-led Arab coalition for two years.

Protesters waved flags emblazoned with loaves of bread and chanted slogans demanding the port be spared in the war, which the United Nations estimates has killed more than 7,700 people and left millions struggling to find food.

"The Hodeida port has nothing to do with war... Let them fight anywhere, but leave the port alone. The port is for our women, children, our old people," said protestor Ali Mohammed Yahya, who walked for six days from Sanaa to Hodeida.

Hodeida, the main entry point for aid, is currently controlled by the Huthis but fears are mounting over a potential coalition military offensive to seize control of the port.

The United Nations last week urged the Saudi-led coalition not to bomb Hodeida, the fourth most populated city in Yemen.

Rights group Amnesty International on Tuesday warned a military offensive "would be devastating far beyond Hodeidah since the city’s port is a crucial access point for lifesaving international aid".

A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition has however denied plans to launch an offensive on Hodeida.