Thousands protest as tensions flare in Yemen capital

SANAA (Reuters) - Yemen opposition forces deployed armoured vehicles across streets in the capital Sanaa as tens of thousands gathered for prayers and protests both for and against President Ali Abdullah Saleh's three-decade rule.

General Ali Mohsen, a top military commander who defected to the opposition in March, sent a large number of troops and armoured vehicles to guard "Change Square", many more than his usual deployment for Friday rallies.

Protesters have camped for months in the area, and they put sandbags out overnight to protect against any attack by government forces.

At the "Friday of Patience" rally, a cleric appealed calm: "We will remain steadfast and preserve the peacefulness of our revolution until this regime falls."

Protesters have grown increasingly frustrated that their mass movement has yet to shake loose the 69-year old president's grip on power, even after he was forced to go to Riyadh for medical treatment following a June bomb attack on his palace.
He has vowed to return to oversee a national dialogue and elections but the opposition accuses him of stalling tactics.

Impoverished Yemen has been hit by sporadic violence as six months of daily mass protests drag on. The United States and neighbouring Saudi Arabia fear growing turmoil will serve al Qaeda's Yemen-based wing, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

AQAP released an audio recording by its military commander Qassim al-Raymi on Islamist web forums on Friday, in which he vowed to attack the world's top oil exporter.

"To the rulers of the Saud family ... our fight against the Jews and the Christians will not distract us from you," he said in the recording, which Reuters could not immediately verify.

"We promise you we will not be satisfied with the battle being moved to us (in Yemen) until we've moved it back to you (in Saudi Arabia)."

The government has blamed AQAP militants of being behind an armed takeover in recent months of several cities in Abyan in the south, although the militants in the area have given themselves a different name -- Supporters of Sharia.

'PRESIDENT MADE MISTAKE'

Meanwhile, clashes between opposition groups and the government have begun again regularly after a month of relative quiet, sparking fears of a sudden escalation of violence in a country where half the population's 23 million own a gun.

In Sanaa, a cleric speaking to crowds of tens of thousands of Saleh supporters said the government should have dealt more harshly with the opposition.

"Now they (the opposition) are sending down tanks and troops, they've abandoned their loyalty to the president and are dividing the streets," he said. "The president has made a mistake by indulging them."

On Thursday activists said security forces opened fire on protesters in Taiz, 200 km (120 miles) south of Sanaa, provoking an ambush by opposition gunmen on Yemeni forces during which dozens were hurt and at least one soldier was killed.

Fighting also erupted between government troops and pro-opposition tribesmen on Thursday in the town of Arhab, 40 km north of the capital, where the government launched an air strike after gunmen tried to seize its strategic Soma base.

The government said pro-opposition fighters were trying to take its base to lay the ground for capturing Sanaa's international airport. Tribesmen in Arhab denied the charges.