SANAA, Sept 19, (Agen-cies): Yemeni security forces shot dead 27 people on Monday when they opened fire on protesters in Sanaa demanding that President Ali Abdullah Saleh quit, organisers of the demonstrations said.

The latest toll brings to 53 the number of “martyrs” since Sunday, they said in a statement received by AFP, adding that 942 people were wounded by gunfire over the past 48 hours, and that 47 are in critical condition.
Gulf activists Monday strongly condemned the killing of protesters by Yemeni forces and called on Gulf states to abandon President Ali Abdullah Saleh whom they accused of committing massacres.
“The Gulf Discussion Forum strongly condemns this massacre and calls on the international community to intervene,” to prevent the “bloody and repressive regime from using force,” the activists said in a statement.
“We also call on Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states to dissociate themselves from this police and tyrannical regime,” said the Gulf Discussion Forum, an organisation for Gulf liberal and pro-democracy activists.

Thousands of protesters armed with sticks and backed by armed military defectors overran a base of the elite Presidential Guards in Yemen’s capital as fighting erupted across much of Sanaa on Monday. The death toll for the worst violence in months rose to nearly 50 in two days of clashes.

The protesters, joined by soldiers from the rebel 1st Armored Division, stormed the base without firing a single shot and seized a large number of firearms, according to witnesses and security officials. The anti-government force used sandbags to erect barricades as they advanced, providing their allied troops with the shelter they needed in case they took fire from inside the base. Republican Guards’ troops did not fire at the protesters and eventually fled, leaving their weapons behind.

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah met Monday embattled Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to discuss deadly clashes that killed dozens in Sanaa, the official Saudi news agency said.
The meeting was the first since Saleh’s went to Saudi Arabia for treatment after being wounded in an attack on his Sanaa compound in June.
King Abdullah pledged his commitment to a “stable, secure, and unified” Yemen and hoped that the Yemeni people will overcome the crisis, the SPA news agency said without giving any further details.
Saudi Arabia is one of the authors of the Gulf Cooperation Council initiative that paves the way for a peaceful transition of power in Yemen.

Restraint
The United States on Monday called for restraint in Yemen where activists and medics said at least 53 anti-regime protesters have been killed in two days of violence.
The US embassy said Washington hoped for a peaceful transition of power in Sanaa and hoped a Gulf Cooperation Council initiative would be signed within a week to transfer power from President Ali Abdullah Saleh to his deputy.

“The United States regrets the deaths and injuries of many people during protest marches in Sanaa yesterday (Sunday). In this tense situation, we call upon all parties to exercise restraint,” the statement said.

“The United States continues to support a peaceful and orderly transition in Yemen, one which addresses the Yemeni people’s aspirations for peace and security.
“We remain hopeful that an agreement will be reached that leads to the signing of the GCC initiative within one week.”

Protest organisers said security forces shot dead 27 anti-regime demonstrators on Monday and wounded more than 900 others, a day after 26 people were reported killed and 500 injured.
Amnesty International said on Monday that the authorities in Yemen must stop killing anti-regime protesters immediately or risk civil war.

“The Yemeni authorities must immediately stop the killing of peaceful protesters by security forces,” the London-based rights group said in a statement following reports that dozens of people have been shot dead in the capital Sanaa since Sunday.
“Eruptions of violence point to a growing risk of civil war,” said Phillip Luther, Amnesty’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa.

“The Yemenis must stop the use of excessive force before the violence spirals out of control.”
‘Sorrow’
Yemen’s government expressed “sorrow and condemnation” over the weekend violence that killed 26 people during anti-regime demonstrations, as six new civilian deaths were reported Monday.
“The government of Yemen expresses its sorrow and condemnation for all acts of violence and bloodshed as those (that) happened yesterday (Sunday) in Sanaa,” foreign minister Abu Bakr al-Kurbi told the UN Human Rights Council.
“The government will investigate and hold accountable all those who were in charge of these acts,” he added.
“It is unfortunate that these events occurred at a time while some solutions for the political crisis started to appear,” said the minister.
“The widespread proliferation of weapons in the hands of Yemenis unfortunately makes things more complicated in such circumstances,” he added.
A UN envoy to Yemen and the Gulf Cooperation Council chief arrived in Sanaa Monday, state news agency Saba and an airport official said, as deadly clashes raged in the capital.
“UN envoy Jamal Benomar and the convoy accompanying him arrived in Sanaa,” Saba reported, while an official at Sanaa airport told AFP that GCC Secretary General Abdullatif al-Zayani also arrived in the restive capital.
A Western diplomat in Sanaa told AFP that the signing of a UN roadmap which sets a mechanism for the transfer of power from embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh hands to his deputy was scheduled for later Monday.
The two men arrived amid a deadly crackdown by Saleh’s forces on anti-regime protesters which has left 46 people dead and hundreds wounded.
Two protesters were also killed in the flashpoint city of Taez, south of Sanaa.
A high-level Saudi official told AFP on Saturday that Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi will sign a Gulf-brokered initiative “within a week” after the United States on Thursday said that this is what it had “hoped” would happen.
Saleh, who has ruled Yemen since 1978, has been recovering in Saudi Arabia from a June 3 attack on his presidential compound, but has so far refused to hand power to his deputy or to sign the Gulf Initiative.
His refusal has angered the plan’s Gulf sponsors who, along with many in the international community, fear that a total meltdown of political order in Yemen could pave the way for al-Qaeda-linked militants to overrun the country.
The GCC plan, proposed last spring, calls on Saleh to step down as president and hand over all constitutional authorities to Hadi. In return, Saleh would receive amnesty from prosecution for himself and his family.
The UN roadmap was drawn up in two weeks of talks in July in Yemen between the opposition and leading figures from the ruling General People’s Congress and chaired by Benomar. It stipulates that Saleh transfer power to Hadi.
Whereas the Gulf plan stipulates a one-month interim period ending with Saleh’s resignation, the UN roadmap provides for an extended period of up to six months.