Sanaa, Feb. 15: Pro-regime supporters on Tuesday, waded into an anti-government protest in Sanaa with batons, sparking violent clashes in which three people were hurt, a reporter said.
The loyalists were joined by plainclothes police wielding electric tasers, who sent the crowd of around 3,000 protesters, mostly students, fleeing, witnesses said.
Inspired by uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, the protesters had earlier poured out of Sanaa University for the fourth day, to demand the ouster of the President, Mr Ali Abdullah Saleh.
“The people want to oust the regime” the protesters chanted, repeating the slogan used by protesters in Egypt who forced the President, Mr Hosni Mubarak, to step down on the 18th day of mass protests.
As they advanced on Saleh’s palace, supporters of his General People’s Congress (GPC) party, armed with batons and stones, confronted the demonstrators, who responded by hurling stones. At least three protesters were wounded. Demonstrators said “police with tasers” had joined the pro-Saleh supporters in dispersing the crowd.