Yemen bid for million-strong rally

Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis have packed a main square in the capital and are on the march elsewhere across the nation, demanding the country’s ruler of 32 years step down.

Many mosques in Sanaa have shut down as clerics and worshippers stream to the square to join the protests.

The opposition is striving to have a million people on the streets to press for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to quit.

The Sanaa crowd is supported by soldiers who have joined the protesters in the month of Yemen’s turmoil. The soldiers have set up half a dozen checkpoints around the square to prevent intrusions by the president’s loyalists.

The demonstrators blame Saleh for mismanagement, repression and the fatal shootings of protesters. They say they will not give up until he goes.