Anti-Saleh protesters fill streets of Yemen's Aden

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ADEN, Mar 25, 2011 (AFP) - Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in south Yemen's main city of Aden on Friday against President Ali Abdullah Saleh's rule and the state of emergency, witnesses said.

Demonstrators who gathered in several Aden neighbourhoods chanted: "Ali Abdullah is a killer, the ruling party is void."

"The people want to bring the slaughterer to justice," was another slogan of the demonstrators, as security forces set up roadblocks to prevent the crowds moving between districts of Aden, the witnesses said.

Their banners read: "No state of emergency."

Similar demonstrations were held in the southern provinces of Shabwa and Lahij, according to witnesses contacted by AFP.

On Wednesday, parliament voted for a state of emergency declared by Saleh just hours after a March 18 bloodbath in Sanaa as 52 anti-regime protesters were gunned down.

In theory, the measure outlaws demonstrations but it has not been implemented since the vote.

Deserted by a string of allies within his ruling circle, the president has offered a deal to form a unity government, draw up a new electoral law, to hold polls and for newly-elected MPs to name his successor by the end of 2011.

On a day of huge rival demonstrations in Sanaa, a defiant Saleh said in a speech to his supporters on Friday he was ready to hand over power to "safe hands" but would otherwise resist all efforts to take over the presidency.

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