Huge Yemeni crowds press on for president ouster

SANAA: Hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters packed the streets of several cities in Yemen on Wednesday in demand ouster of president and denouncing the explosion of a munitions factory that killed at least 100 deaths.
Opposition groups have accused President Ali Abdullah Saleh to work with al-Qaida militants in army firing zone of the plant and allowing the terrorist network to invade the region.
"Without the attraction force organized by the chaos and planned by the regime, the massacre at the plant would not have happened, " a statement said.
Saleh has cooperated closely with the United States in the fight against the Yemeni branch of Al-Qaida, which used areas of Yemen long control of the state to launch attacks, including attempts to blow up an airplane line to Detroit with a bomb in underwear sewn.
But the president has also fought against the regional rebellions in the north and south, and the opposition accuses him of exploiting the fears of the West that al-Qaida could amount to fill a void if it was reversed.
Yousef Said, a leader within the Congress Party in power Saleh and Professor at the University of Aden, has denied the allegations. "These accusations are false and are part of political maneuvering of the opposition,"he said.
Spokesman for the opposition Mohammed al-Sabri also criticized the remarks of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on ABC News "This Week" in which he said the regime fell Saleh could be a "real problem" for America.