Sanaa, May 14:Republican Guards killed at least three anti-regime protesters today as Yemen’s embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh vowed to hold on to power despite US calls for his rapid departure.
The elite military unit opened fire at demonstrators in the southern city of Ibb when they were pinned down in a building where they sought refuge after an earlier clash with protesters, opposition sources and witnesses told AFP.
The latest violence took to 179 the number of people killed in anti-Saleh protests gripping the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state in the past three months, according to a toll compiled from activists and medics.
Saleh, a strong US ally in its “war on terror” who has been in power since 1978, vowed on Friday to defend his people “by all means,” a day after Washington insisted he agree to a transition plan “now.”
“We will defend ourselves with all our forces and by all means,” he told large crowds of loyalists in the capital where tens of thousands of opposition activists also rallied to demand his immediate ouster.
Saleh made no direct reference to the United States, but the remarks came a day after Washington asked him to sign a Gulf-brokered transition plan that would see him out of power within a month.
“We will not remain passive in the face of law-breakers,” Saleh said, warning the opposition to “stop playing with fire.”
Loyalists carried huge portraits of Saleh, and chanted “People want Saleh, People want Saleh”, while banners read: “Army is with you.”
There was no violence reported in Sanaa.
In a first reaction to Saleh’s defiant speech, the spokesman of the parliamentary opposition, Mohammed Qahtan, told the Arab satellite channel Al-Arabiya that the president’s remarks amounted to a “declaration of war.”
Opposition activists said their latest protests were a show of solidarity with the people of Saada in the north, where Zaidi Shiite rebels are based, while Saleh’s supporters marked today as a “Day of Unity.”
Pro-opposition troops led by dissident General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar tightened a cordon around University Square, dubbed “Change Square,” to protect protesters from attack by Saleh loyalists, witnesses said.
Tension has escalated this week.
In a renewed crackdown, a total of 19 people were killed by troops and gunmen loyal to Saleh in several parts of the country during a 24-hour period ending yesterday.
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