4 killed, dozens injured in Yemen

Anti-government protesters chant slogans during a protest demanding the ouster of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh in the southern port city of Aden.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/168244.html

At least four anti-government demonstrators have been killed and dozens injured in Yemen as the embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh refuses to step down from power.

A peaceful demonstration in the town of Harf Sufyan, to criticize corruption, came under attack by government forces, Abu Hashem, a Shia group's spokesman said, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The attack left four people dead and dozens injured, he went on to say.

Despite calls for his ouster, Saleh has rejected an opposition plan for him to transfer power by the end of 2011. The Yemeni incumbent president insists on retaining his position till the end of his term in 2013.

As anti-government protests were being held and were swelling in hundreds of thousands, several thousand government loyalists also turned out in the Yemeni capital, Sana'a, to throw their weight behind Saleh, the Press TV correspondent reported from Sana'a late Friday.

The pro-government demonstrators dubbed their march as Friday of Unity and chanted slogans in support of the regime and its efforts to stamp out corruption.

But the public anger is by and large targeted directly at Saleh, who's been ruling the country since 1978.

The Yemeni city of Taiz witnessed a big demonstration, while protests in the business capital Aden turned violent.

Calls for dialogue and possible concessions by the government appear to have fallen on deaf ears as protesters say Saleh's resignation is the only thing they will ever settle for.

Meanwhile, Houthi fighters in the north of the country said that the armed forces have fired on them leaving at least two people dead and several others injured. But the country's Defense Ministry said the claims were untrue and mere fabrications