Yemeni forces disperse protesters

Government supporters (L) confront anti-government protesters
in Sanaa January 29.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/162669.html

Clashes erupt between supporters of the Yemeni president and anti-government demonstrators holding a rally near the Egyptian Embassy in the capital city of Sanaa to show support for the Egyptian uprising.

On Saturday, Yemeni anti-government protesters, most of them journalists and rights activists, also called on President Ali Abdullah Saleh to end his 33-year rule.

A group of government backers along with security forces attacked and dispersed the crowd.

"The people want the regime to fall," the protesters shouted, urging the Yemeni president to resign.

Confronting the crowd, Pro-government bystanders were shouting, "With our blood and souls we defend you, Ali."

Yemen has been the scene of massive protests following the revolution in Tunisia that led to ouster of the Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The uprising also sent shockwaves across Arab and North African nations including Egypt, Yemen and Jordan.

Yemeni security forces also arrested a prominent human rights activist during the Saturday rally.

"The same people that surrounded us today, they are the same people that surrounded our protest on Wednesday and tried to hit some of the protesters. The only guarantee: they will not terrify us, and they will not scare us," activist, Tawakul Karman, told Reuters.

Saturday's protest came two days after tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the capital city Sanaa and several other cities, calling for the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

On Wednesday, at least five people were injured and dozens of protesters arrested during violent clashes between security forces in Yemen's southern province of Shabwa.