Troops on Sunday killed at least one protester demanding the trial of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh for crimes committed during his decades-long rule, hours before he was expected to make a key speech.
The protester was shot in the head as he shouted into a megaphone while perched on top of a minivan that was leading the march of tens of thousands of people in the capital, an AFP correspondent reported.
A medical official at a makeshift field hospital in the city said 17 other people were wounded in the attack. The protesters, who chanted "Freedom! Freedom! The people want the butcher tried!" retreated to their base in Change Square, epicentre of anti-regime protests in the capital, after the shooting.
Sunday's demonstrations came after the bloodiest week Sanaa has seen since mass anti-government protests calling for Saleh's resignation erupted in January.
In all, more than 170 people, mostly unarmed protesters, have been killed in the capital over the past week. Most of the casualties were anti-government protesters killed when security forces used artillery and gunfire to disperse demonstrating crowds.
Dissident troops and armed tribesmen, both pro- and anti-Saleh, remained heavily deployed throughout Sanaa, an AFP correspondent said, raising fears of renewed clashes ahead of Saleh's expected speech.
The official Yemeni news agency said he would make "an important speech to mark the 49th anniversary" of the September 26th 1962 revolution that saw Yemen proclaimed a republic, although no appearance has been officially announced.
Yemenis are sceptical that a Saleh speech will end the violence. "We are living in a state of fear," one Sanaa resident who identified himself only as Fuad told AFP. "I don't think there's anything Saleh can say that will change that."
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