SANAA: Gunmen killed three protesters tearing up posters of Ali Abdullah Saleh Thursday, taking to 19 the death toll in 24 hours of repression and prompting Washington to urge the embattled president to agree "now" to a transfer of power.
Pro-Saleh gunmen on the roof of the ruling party's headquarters in Al-Bayda, 210 kilometres (130 miles) southeast of Sanaa, opened fire at demonstrators tearing-up posters of Saleh, witnesses and protest organisers said.
Seven protesters were also wounded.
In central Taez, Yemen's second-largest city, central security forces and units from the Republican Guard opened fire to disperse the latest protest in Jamal Street.
Dozens of protesters were wounded, said a medic at a field hospital in Freedom Square, the focal point of protests in Taez.
Thursday's crackdown came after a day of deadly protests.
In Sanaa, 12 people were killed and 340 wounded Wednesday as security forces and plain-clothes gunmen fired at protesters marching from University Square towards the government headquarters, medics and witnesses said.
Elsewhere, police shot dead two protesters in Taez, and two others in the town of Dhamar and the city of Hudayda.
"People want to march to the palace" of President Saleh, the protesters chanted, in an apparent escalation of their 15-week push to oust him.
The interior ministry said protesters had attempted to break security cordons to "storm the radio (building) and government headquarters."
It added that opposition gunmen positioned in a nearby building opened fire, resulting in the death of one protester and the wounding of others, the official Saba news agency reported.
Besides gunfire and tear gas, security forces also used hot water on protesters at University Square, scalding at least 12 of them, a medic said.
Tension was mounting ahead of Friday rallies arranged by both sides as they have done since the start of the unrest.
The ruling party wants to mark Friday as a "day of unity" while the opposition has dubbed it a "day of determination."
Meanwhile, the parliamentary opposition Common Forum issued a statement calling on the Arab and international community to intervene to end the "massacres" of protesters.
Armoured troops led by dissident General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar had set a cordon around University Square, dubbed "Change Square" since protests began, to protect camping protesters from a possible attack by loyal forces.
In Taez on Wednesday, the police killing of two protesters brought to seven the number of demonstrators killed there since the weekend, according to a tally by medics, while the interior ministry denied there were any deaths.
A protester was shot dead in the Red Sea port city of Hudayda when police opened fire to break up a demonstration near the provincial headquarters, a medic and witnesses said.
Another protester was killed by police in Dhamar, south of Sanaa, as security forces opened fire on a demonstration, medics and witnesses said.
The latest escalation came after neighbouring Gulf Cooperation Council states urged all sides in Yemen to sign a transition plan aimed at ending the political bloodshed.
Saleh has stalled by refusing to sign in his capacity as a president, insisting on endorsing the agreement as the leader of the ruling General People's Congress, contrary to the demands of the opposition.
But the United States, a long-time backer of Saleh, has thrown its support behind the GCC plan and urged Saleh to sign a deal "now."
Washington "is deeply concerned by recent violence throughout Yemen, and joins (the European Union) in strongly condemning these troubling actions," State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement.
"We call on the Yemeni security forces to exercise maximum restraint, refrain from violence, and respect the rights of the Yemeni people to freely and peacefully assemble and express their views."
And Washington called "on all parties to sign and implement the terms of the agreement now to ensure an orderly, peaceful transition of power."
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