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Thousands Yemenis vow to press on escalating process of toppling Saleh

02 September 2011 22:16 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Thousands of Yemeni protesters staged rallies on Friday against wounded President Ali Abdullah Saleh, vowing to force Saleh’s resignation, APA reports.

"The planned escalation would be through peaceful means," a leading protester named Adel Ahmed told Xinhua. He appealed to the defected armed forces to "protect the protesters in case of any potential aggression by Saleh’s supporters."

Meanwhile, some supporters of Saleh gathered in the Sabeen square in southeast the capital Sana, near the presidential palace, shouting "the people want Ali Abdullah Saleh," and held portrait of the president.

Similar rival rallies reportedly took place in other major cities of Taiz, Al-Bayda, Al-Hodayda, Ibb, Hadramout, Amran, Hajja, Dhamar and Saada.

Yemen was gripped by a political crisis since late January when protests against President Saleh erupted.

Saleh, still in Saudi Arabia for rehabilitation from injuries he sustained in a shelling attack on his presidential compound on June 3, said in an audio speech aired by the state TV on Monday that he is willing to sign a Gulf-brokered deal to prepare for holding elections for a new president.

However, an opposition official had told Xinhua that "although the opposition Joint Meeting Parties urged the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders, the United States and European Union to put more pressure on Saleh to sign the deal and transfer power, there were no positive indications of any improvement in the Yemeni political crisis."