Saleh calls for talks as protests escalate

“We call on the opposition to consult their consciences and come to dialogue and reach an agreement for security and stability of the country,” Saleh said.

“These crowds are a clear message to those inside and outside the country ... on constitutional legitimacy.”

Saleh was capitalizing on the opposition's rejection of a Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) offer to mediate talks in Riyadh on a transfer of power in the Arabian peninsula state, fearing a trick to keep Saleh in office for any time up to the end of his term in 2013, Reuters reported.

Saleh spoke as hundreds of thousands protested against him in Sanaa, Aden and Taiz, tribesmen attacked a power plant and clerics and tribal leaders who were once his allies issued a statement saying he must go now.

“It's only a matter of days before this regime is over. This revolution cannot be defeated. Our aim to bring down corrupt family rule,” preacher Abubakr Obaid told thousands of worshippers near Sanaa University, where protesters have been camped out since early February.

Activists distributed leaflets calling on people to stop paying taxes, electricity and other bills to the government in a campaign of civil disobedience to force Saleh out. Strikes in schools and government offices began in the southern city of Aden last week.

The opposition has set a two-week deadline for the President to step aside, rejecting a Saudi-brokered, PGCC initiative to end the country's political turmoil.

“We have renewed our emphasis on the need for speeding the process of (Saleh) standing down within two weeks. Therefore we will not go to Riyadh,” Mohammed al-Mutawakkil, a prominent opposition leader, said on Thursday, referring to the proposed talks in the Saudi capital.

Meanwhile, Yemeni religious scholars and tribal leaders have said they would support the demands of the youth revolution and called on President Saleh to step down immediately.

In a statement issued late on Thursday in the capital Sanaa, they said the peaceful demands of protestors should be met and urged “the immediate stepping down of the President of the Republic and the dismissal of all his relatives from the military and security apparatus of the state”.

Violence during protests

On Wednesday five people were killed in the Yemeni capital Sanaa as forces loyal to a defected army general and pro-government fighters clashed, Al Jazeera's correspondents said.

Thousands of pro- and anti-government demonstrators have held rival rallies

Two more people were killed on Wednesday in the southern city of Aden in clashes between security forces and anti-regime demonstrators.

Photo: Yemeni opposition groups have been protesting for months, calling for President Saleh to step down. (EPA photo)