Yemen 'Friday of Rage' protest

Anti-government demonstrators have clashed with supporters of Yemen’s long-time ruler and riot police, who fired tear gas and shots in the air to disperse the crowd during a “Friday of Rage” across the country.

In the city of Taiz, what appeared to be a hand grenade was thrown at a group of protesters, seriously wounding at least eight people in the blast and stampede that followed, witnesses said.

Riots also flared up in the southern port of Aden with police fatally shooting one demonstrator after cars and a local government building were set ablaze, officials said.

It was the eighth straight day of protests in Yemen inspired by uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.

Demonstrators in the Arab world’s poorest country are calling for the ousting of President Ali Abdullah Saleh – a key US ally in fighting al Qaida terrorists – who has ruled the country for 32 years.

Saleh is already facing a restless population, with threats from al Qaida militants saying they want to oust him, a southern secessionist movement and an on-and-off armed rebellion in the north.

To try to quell the new outbursts of dissent, Saleh pledged to meet some of the protesters’ demands and has reached out to tribal chiefs, who present a major base of support for him. But a major chief from Saleh’s own tribe was critical of his policies and threatened to join the protesters – an apparent attempt to put pressure on the embattled leader.

For now, most of the protesters are made up of students, educated professionals and activists who used social media sites Facebook and Twitter in summoning people to the streets for the “Friday of Rage” following noon prayers.

Tens of tens of thousands responded in the capital of Sanaa, the southern port of Aden and the political hotbed of Taiz. Some websites also referred to the day as “Friday of the Beginning.”

In an unusual twist, many mosque preachers took a critical tone with the government. A preacher at the Sanaa University mosque spoke out against torture and beating of demonstrators, telling many protesters who had gathered there: “We have been living for 30 years without purpose or hope.”