By Mohammed al-Kibsi
Yemen opposition rejected Saleh`s call for polls. Activists of the Islah Islamist party called fresh protests on Sunday, escalating demands for the immediate departure of President Ali Abdullah Saleh after he said polls would determine his future.
President Saleh's address last night in which he called for elections while at the same time said he was committed to a Gulf power-transfer deal which would see him step down immediately, triggered uproar at Change Square, epicenter of anti-regime protests which have rocked Yemen since late January.
"The youth will not accept," said Walid al-Amari, member of Islah party and a leading member of the youth protest committee, addressing demonstrators at the square near Sana’a University.
"They will not give up until they achieve all the goals of the revolution," he added, referring to demands that the veteran leader quit power immediately.
Part of today's events would be a protest at Change Square by women demonstrators, organizers said.
Saleh, who unexpectedly returned on Friday to Yemen after a month-long stay in Saudi Arabia for treatment from bomb blast wounds, challenged the opposition to head to early elections.
"You who are running after power, let us head together toward the ballot boxes. We are against coups," Saleh said in a speech aired on state television on the 49th anniversary of the September 26, 1962 revolution that saw Yemen proclaimed a republic.
Two days prior to Saleh’s return from Saudi Arabia, the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) lead by Islah Islamist party had refused to meet the Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council Abdulatif al-Zayani and said that they did not want the GCC pact or the proposals of the UN envoy Jamal Bin Umar.
Yemen opposition rejected Saleh`s call for polls. Activists of the Islah Islamist party called fresh protests on Sunday, escalating demands for the immediate departure of President Ali Abdullah Saleh after he said polls would determine his future.
President Saleh's address last night in which he called for elections while at the same time said he was committed to a Gulf power-transfer deal which would see him step down immediately, triggered uproar at Change Square, epicenter of anti-regime protests which have rocked Yemen since late January.
"The youth will not accept," said Walid al-Amari, member of Islah party and a leading member of the youth protest committee, addressing demonstrators at the square near Sana’a University.
"They will not give up until they achieve all the goals of the revolution," he added, referring to demands that the veteran leader quit power immediately.
Part of today's events would be a protest at Change Square by women demonstrators, organizers said.
Saleh, who unexpectedly returned on Friday to Yemen after a month-long stay in Saudi Arabia for treatment from bomb blast wounds, challenged the opposition to head to early elections.
"You who are running after power, let us head together toward the ballot boxes. We are against coups," Saleh said in a speech aired on state television on the 49th anniversary of the September 26, 1962 revolution that saw Yemen proclaimed a republic.
Two days prior to Saleh’s return from Saudi Arabia, the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) lead by Islah Islamist party had refused to meet the Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council Abdulatif al-Zayani and said that they did not want the GCC pact or the proposals of the UN envoy Jamal Bin Umar.
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