However, U.S.-backed President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in power for three decades, offered to begin a dialogue with the protesters. The proposal was quickly rebuffed as insincere by an opposition spokesman.
In another attempt to defuse anger, Saleh told a news conference that he has ordered troops not to fire at anti-government protesters, except in self defense. At least 11 people have been killed since protests erupted earlier this month, including a youth shot dead Monday, medical officials said.
The demonstrations in Yemen, the poorest Arab nation, are part of a wave of unrest that have swept across the Arab world in recent weeks and toppled autocratic leaders in Tunisia and Egypt.
Saleh’s government was already weak before the protests, facing a southern separatist movement and disaffected tribesmen around the country. Saleh is quietly cooperating with the U.S. in efforts to battle an al-Qaida franchise that has taken root in Yemen, but his government exercises limited control in the tribal areas beyond the capital. The U.S. gives Yemen military aid and training.
Despite Saleh’s gestures, protesters are digging in. Several hundred camped overnight in a square in the capital of Sanaa, near the city’s university. Similar to the scenes in Tahrir Square in Cairo, the epicenter of the Egyptian uprising, protesters in Sanaa pitched small tents and set up a platformequipped with loudspeakers. Protesters guarded access roads and searched those entering the square.
In the city of Taiz, tens of thousands of protesters rallied in the central square. “We will not leave this place
until the downfall of the regime,” activist Ahmed Ghilan said.
until the downfall of the regime,” activist Ahmed Ghilan said.
On Monday, a 28-year-old protester died of wounds he sustained when a hand grenade was thrown on protesters in Taiz on Friday, a hospital official said.
In the town of al-Maafer, in Taiz province, witnesses said armed men opened fired Sunday evening and injured three protesters.
In the port city of Aden, a group of youths threw stones at a security vehicle Monday, said a medicalofficial at a local hospital. Shots were fired at the stone-throwers from the vehicle, killing one and injuring four, the official said.
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