One killed in Yemen''s Aden amid anti-regime protests

Sanaa, Feb 20 (AFP) Hundreds of Yemeni studentsdemonstrated today on the eighth straight day of anti-regimeprotests in Sanaa, while police shot dead a protester in thesouth and the opposition vowed to join protests.

In Sanaa, students gathered outside theuniversity''s campus chanting slogans demanding the ouster ofPresident Ali Abdullah Saleh, in power for 32 years, thecorrespondent said.

Around 100 of Saleh''s supporters held a counterprotest across the street from the campus while police set upa cordon to separate the two groups.

Pro- and anti-Saleh demonstrators have clashedviolently over the past week in Sanaa with guns, batons androcks with anti-regime protesters calling on the president toquit.

Yesterday, the police did not intervene as fierceclashes left five students wounded, according to an AFPcorrespondent.

Today, Yemeni police shot dead a protester in thesouthern regional capital Aden, medics and witnesses said,raising the death toll to 11 in the restive city sinceFebruary 13, according to an AFP tally.

A protester was also injured as police fired teargas and bullets to disperse hundreds who took to the streetsin Sheikh Osman neighbourhood in Aden calling on Saleh toquit, the sources said.

At least 76 people, including seven soldiers, havebeen wounded in Aden since the protests begun, according to anAFP tally based on figures by medics and officials.

Meanwhile, Yemen''s parliamentary opposition saidtoday that it will join the street protests and will notresume dialogue with the regime.

The Common Forum, an alliance of parliamentaryopposition groups has urged all members to "join theprotesting youths... in their demonstrations againstoppression, tyranny and corruption," in a statement receivedby AFP.

The opposition had responded to Saleh''s callsearlier this month to resume dialogue, stalled since October.

But "after bloodshed and the fall of victims, andafter the government has sent its thugs onto the streets... weinsist that there is no dialogue with bullets and batons," andwith a regime "that brings thugs to occupy public places andterrorise people," the statement said.

Meanwhile, Saleh has ordered security services to"provide the needed protection for journalists to help themcarry out their job," the state news agency Saba reported.

Journalists must be able "to serve the truth andgive the right information," he said yesterday after a groupof reporters accused his ruling General People''s Congressparty of plotting attacks on the media. (AFP)