Gunmen killed three protesters tearing up posters of President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Thursday, raising to 19 the death toll in 24 hours and prompting Washington to say the time has come for a transfer of power. Pro-Saleh gunmen on the roof of the ruling party's headquarters in Al-Bayda, 210 kilometres (130 miles) south-east 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 heavy bloodshed during protests. In Sanaa, 12 people were killed and 340 wounded on Wednesday as security forces and plainclothes gunmen fired at protesters marching from University Square towards the government headquarters, medics and witnesses said.
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