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1 protester killed, 50 injured in clashes in Yemen

Xinhua, February 18, 2011

The statement said the government will be committed to the dialogue with the opposition and will protect the democratic rights of the citizens in expressing their opinions and staging peaceful rallies.

Earlier Thursday, a group of clerics in Sanaa gathered at a conference, calling for forming a national unity government, which includes both the ruling party and opposition coalition, to save the country from chaos.

The clerics, including influential figures such as Sheikh Abdulmajid al-Zindany, head of Al-Eyman University and a prominent figure in the opposition Islah party, demanded the rival factions immediately form a transitional unity government to end the unrest in streets.

Saleh said earlier this month at a high-level emergency meeting that he would not seek re-election or pass power to his son. He also pledged to freeze all the controversial constitutional amendments that allow him to be president for life.

The embattled president also pledged to raise salaries of government employees and to provide 60,000 job opportunities for university graduates.

The current instability added extra troubles to Yemen, which was already undermined by a Shiite rebellion in the north, a growing separatist movement in the south and a resurgence of terrorist threats throughout the country.

Northern Shiite rebel commander Abdulmalik al-Houthi pledged in a statement posted on the Internet Tuesday to order his armed groups to support the Yemeni people against Saleh if the revolution breaks out.