Yemen: Two killed as protesters and security forces clash

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Yemen: Two killed as protesters and security forces clash

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Yemeni protesters continued to stage their sit in protest at a makeshift camp at Taghyeer square

24 March,2011 09:07 am

Yemeni protesters continued to stage their sit in protest at a makeshift camp at Taghyeer square near Sanaa University on Wednesday. So far two people have been killed in clashes between Yemen s regular army and guards loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh.Members of the Yemeni parliament visited the square on Wednesday, announcing that they were joining the youths’ non violent revolution which aims to change the regime and the president. Crowds cheered and flashed victory signs as a member of parliament addressed them from the stage announcing their opposition to the state of emergency declared by the president four days ago. More members of the security forces have also defected from the government and announced they were joining the protest.Yemen s president offered on Wednesday to step down by the end of the year to try to appease mounting demands for his resignation, but opposition groups showed no sign of easing up on efforts to force him out. Weeks of protests against the 32-year-old rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in the impoverished Arabian state have raised alarm in Western capitals at the prospect the country where al Qaeda has entrenched itself could fall apart. US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said it was too soon to determine the outcome of the political turmoil and said Washington had not planned for an era without Saleh in office.Opposition spokesman Mohammed Al-Sabry, rejecting Saleh s offer to go by January 2012, said the coming hours would be decisive. In speeches to army officers and tribal leaders in Sanaa, Saleh said Yemen faced a danger of civil war and disintegration because of efforts to stage a coup against his rule.