Some 2,000 protesters, mostly students, had just left Sanaa University headed for the central Tahrir Square when they ran into regime supporters and clashes broke out for the fifth straight day, the reporter said.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh's loyalists were gathered and waiting near the university since early in the day and attacked the protesters with batons and stones, said the reporter.

The protesters, chanting "The people want to overthrow the regime," responded by hurling stones. Police intervened with warning shots to separate the rival demonstrators.