By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Thursday, February 24, 2011

Thousands of Yemeni anti-regime demonstrators defiantly vowed Wednesday to keep protesting after regime loyalists shot dead two of them, while ruling party MPs resigned over the suppression of protests.
In the main southern port city of Aden, a demonstrator, Aref al-Yafii, who was shot in Al-Mansura Friday, died of his wounds Wednesday, a hospital official said.

“Enough! Enough! The criminal attacks during the night!,” chanted the mostly young demonstrators encamped at Sanaa University, after gunmen attacked them during the night, killing two of them and wounding 23, according to witnesses and medics. “The sit-in will continue until the fall of the regime,” the protesters chanted.

The attack on the rally took place near midnight and followed other clashes Tuesday between the two sides.
Around 1,000 students have been camping since Sunday at a square near the university, which they have dubbed Al-Huriya (Liberty) Square and where they have erected a huge tent.

Nine members of Parliament have resigned from Saleh’s ruling party to protest against what they described as government violence against demonstrators, parliamentarians said Wednesday. The resignations, including some major allies of Saleh, are a political blow to the president, though he still has the support of around 80 percent of parliamentarians.

“The people must have the right to demonstrate peacefully,” said Abdulaziz Jubari, a leading parliamentarian who has resigned. Jubari said the parliamentarians had sent a 10-point letter to Saleh with demands for immediate reform and restructuring of the army to make it more representative of Yemen’s complex society, and to aid a transition toward democracy.

He said a call by Saleh for dialogue fell short of a genuine desire to consider opposing views, pointing to the president’s refusal to meet the parliamentarians before they resigned.

“Everyone must be included in a national dialogue, including the Houthis,” Jubairi said, referring to insurgents belonging to a sect of Shiite Islam who mounted a violent challenge to the central government last year.
Saleh’s General Ruling Congress Party still has around 240 members in the 301-strong Parliament, which the opposition says is a result of unfair elections and the use of state machinery to elect Saleh’s allies.
Protests demanding the fall of the regime were also staged Wednesday in Mukallah, in the southern province of Hadramout, witnesses said.

Demonstrators there clashed with police and three students were wounded, one of them seriously, according to a civil society organization spokesman, Nasser Baqazqouz.
Clashes also broke out Wednesday between police and separatist demonstrators who had gathered in front of a police station in Aden.

Thousands protested overnight in the city calling for the fall of the regime, chanting “the people want to topple the regime” and “no work, no teaching until the fall of the president.”
And thousands more continued a sit-in in Al-Mansura Wednesday, chanting: “No talking, no dialogue until the system falls.” – AFP, Reuters