Yemen's biggest ever anti-government demonstration took place in the capital Sana'a on Thursday, demanding the resignation of President Ali Abdulla Saleh.
An estimated 16,000 people took to the streets in response to calls by opposition forces. The protests took place at 4 sites, including one near the interior ministry.
It was the largest of a series of protests in Yemen this month inspired by the uprising in Tunisia that led to the ouster of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Protesters are demanding the immediate resignation of President Saleh. They are denouncing him and his family as corrupt and monopolizing the wealth obtained from oil.
Security troops were deployed around the protest sites but there were no reports of clashes.
President Saleh has been trying to calm the protests by offering to increase the wages of civil servants and soldiers, and cut income taxes by half.
Saleh has been in power for more than 32 years. He served as president of North Yemen from 1978, and continued to rule when Yemen unified in 1990. His second 7-year term expires in 2013, but a proposed constitutional amendment could allow him to become a life-long president.
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