President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, after serving as a lieutenant colonel in the army. He had been part of the conspiracy that bumped off his predecessor, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, in the usual tiresome military coup, and he has maintained power by keeping Yemen's many tribes fighting with each other, rather than uniting to string him up. ...
protesters are demanding the fall of his regime.
This fighting resulted in wounding nine from both sides.
Eyewitnesses said the fighting started when the two sides differed on who should control the stage of speech at Sana'a University protest area.