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SANAA: Armed civilians opened fire on anti-government demonstrators in Yemen's second-largest city Taez on Saturday wounding seven of them, witnesses said.
Tens of thousands had joined the protest march along the city's main thoroughfare which came a day after a defiant President Ali Abdullah Saleh rebuffed a call from his longtime US ally to agree to step down “now,” the witnesses said.
A general strike called by the opposition was widely observed in Taez, the witnesses added.
There was also a widespread shutdown in the formerly independent south, residents said, although the strike was less well observed in Sanaa.
The capital saw huge rival demonstrations by supporters and opponents of the embattled president on Friday.
Saleh told the loyalist rally: “We will not remain passive in the face of law-breakers,” and warned the opposition to “stop playing with fire.” The spokesman of the parliamentary opposition, Mohammed Qahtan, told al Arabiya television the president's remarks amounted to a “declaration of war.” Elite Republican Guards troops killed at least three anti-government demonstrators in the southern city of Ibb on Friday, opposition sources and witnesses told AFP.
The deaths brought to 179 the number killed in three months of protests against Saleh's regime, according to a toll compiled from activists and medics.
