Yemen demonstrators shot in 2 cities

SANAA, Yemen (AP) - Government forces shot bullets and tear gas at demonstrators in Yemen's capital and another city on Saturday as longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh resisted a diplomatic push for the resignation that hundreds of thousands of his own people were demanding in the streets.

In Sanaa, the capital, security men in plain clothes shot, beat and threw rocks at demonstrators at a downtown square where tens of thousands of people called for Saleh to step down, said Dr. Wasim al-Qurshi, who was treating the injured at a makeshift first aid station.

He said 11 people were shot, including one man shot in the head, and that dozens of others were injured as they choked on tear gas or were crushed by other fleeing demonstrators.

In the southern city of Taiz, presidential guard units controlled by Saleh's eldest son clashed with protesters, firing bullets and spraying plumes of tear gas into crowds of tens of thousands marching next to an elementary school.

The soldiers also clashed with other demonstrators in other parts of the city.

Some three people were seriously injured by gunshot wounds, while dozens choked on acrid tear gas, al-Wafi said.

The deaths of four protesters in Taiz on Friday formed a rallying cry for the two demonstrations and others that drew hundreds of thousands of people across this impoverished country on the Arabian Peninsula. More than 120 people have been killed since Feb. 11 in protests inspired by popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, according to an AP count.