The Yemeni revolution, also known as the Yemeni intifada, was a series of major anti-government protests and armed uprisings that raged through Yemen from January 2011 to February 2012. It occurred concurrently with the Arab Spring that broke out throughout the Middle East and North Africa in 2011. In its early phase, protests in Yemen were initially against unemployment, economic conditions, corruption, and the authoritarian regime led by President Ali Abdullah Saleh as well as against the government's proposals to modify Yemen's constitution. The protesters' demands then escalated to calls for the resignation of Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Mass defections from the military, as well as from Saleh's government, effectively rendered much of the country outside of the government's control, and protesters vowed to defy its authority.