At least one protester was killed and 16 others injured in fresh clashes late Saturday between anti- government rally and police forces in Yemen's troubled southern province of Taiz, witnesses said.
The clashes erupted when police forces tried to prevent the protesters from blocking roads and burning tires, a witness said.
"The mission of the police forces apparently failed and they were forced to open fire to defend themselves from a hail of stones thrown by the angry protesters," a local police official who requested anonymity told Xinhua.
Taiz province, some 200 km south of the capital Sanaa, witnessed frequent civil disobedience as shops, schools, private companies and banks were shut down at the request of the protest organizers to force Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh out of power, the witnesses and protest organizers said.
Earlier the day, another similar clash in the same area left at least seven protesters injured.