by Mohamed al-Aazaki, Wang Qiuyun
SANAA, March 11 (Xinhua) -- At least five anti-government protesters were wounded when the security forces opened fire and tear gas to disperse thousands of demonstrators demanding immediate ouster of Yemen's president in south city Aden on Friday, a local councilman told Xinhua.
"Police forces using live ammunition and tear gas intercepted thousands of anti-government protesters marching towards a main square in Kour Maksar city in the southern port city of Aden on Friday, wounding five protesters," the councilman told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
A security official in Aden told Xinhua that "after people finished their Friday's prayers, they went out of mosques in al- Mansoura, al-Tuwahi, Sheikh Othman and Crater districts and walked in long row to the square of Kour Maksar."
"They were about seven or eight thousands, shouting people want downfall the regime," the security official said, asked not to be named.
"Police forces opened fire into air after some protesters began to act violently and tried to attack public property in Sheikh Othman's market," he said, adding that "tear gas bombs were used to break up the riot."
He said that the injured were taken by police ambulances to the hospital.
Thousands of anti-government protesters continued staging sit- ins and rallies in major provinces, including the capital Sanaa to repeat their demands to end the 33-year rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
In Sanaa, nearly 100,000 protesters gathered outside Sanaa University mourned their fellows who were shot dead or injured by the police late on Tuesday, according to security sources at the scene.
After a series of concessions offered to the opposition, Saleh on Thursday launched more conciliation initiative, promising to hold a referendum on the constitution this year, including a new election law, to prepare to transfer power to the parliament, which was swiftly rejected by the opposition, saying it came too late.
Since mid February, skirmishes took place between protesters and the police forces, leaving dozens dead, mostly in southern provinces.
Inspired by Tunisian and Egyptian protests, anti-government rallies rattled Yemen as protests were reportedly escalated in southern provinces of Dhamar, Ibb, Taiz, Al-Dhalee, Al-Baydaa, Aden, Abyan, Shabwa and Hadramout since Feb. 11.
As a precaution against potential spreading unrest, the government Tuesday deployed heavy security forces and armored vehicles around a sit-in area of thousands of protesters outside Sanaa University's campus after the protesters vowed to march towards the presidential palace on March 11.
Tanks were stationed in main streets leading to the presidential palace in the capital Sanaa, while armored vehicles were sent to guard foreign embassies, banks and governmental facilities, a security official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The security forces were also deployed in nearly all major troubled cities, especially in the southern provinces, where anti- government sentiments are simmering, according to the security sources. 
