The United States expressed deep concern over escalating violence in Yemen, where at least three people were killed in bloody clashes between security forces and protesters Sunday. Dozens were injured when police and loyalists of the ruling General People's Congress party attacked protesters occupying Sanaa's University Square with live gunfire and tear gas, witnesses said.
Six demonstrators were shot in the head during clashes with police overnight in the southern city of Aden, with two dying of their wounds, medical officials said.
Witnesses said police sharpshooters fired on demonstrators from rooftops in the city as protesters attacked and burned a police station and chanted slogans calling for the fall of the regime.
A 25-year-old protester was also killed Sunday evening as security forces opened fire on people who had set fire to another police station in Aden and looted its weapons, including assault rifles, a hospital source said.
The deaths brought the toll since Saturday to eight as pro-democracy opposition groups and students escalated their campaign to oust autocratic President Ali Abdullah Saleh after 32 years in power.
The United States joined Britain, the European Union and the United Nations in condemning the violence, in a country where US special forces are helping train local units engaged against al Qaeda's offshoot in the Arabian Peninsula.
"People everywhere share the same universal rights to demonstrate peacefully and to freely assemble and express themselves. Violence must cease immediately," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said.
"We call on the Yemeni government to quickly investigate these incidents and take all necessary steps to protect the rights of all its citizens, in accordance with President Saleh's commitments."
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon condemned the "excessive use of force" against peaceful demonstrators and urged all sides to engage in dialogue, his spokesman said.