JNN 22 Feb 2011 : Protesters continue to demand the ouster of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, despite a government crackdown on demonstrations which has killed at least 22 people.

In the country’s south, police shot dead a protester in the regional capital of Aden on Monday, bringing to 22 the number of people killed in pro-democracy protests over the past nine days, a Press TV correspondent reported on Monday.

Scores of others have been wounded as police continue to crack down on the protesters across the country.

Anti-regime protests spread to the north of the country on Monday, with tens of thousands of Houthis demonstrating in Sa’ada to demand the ouster of Saleh, a local tribal leader said.

Houthis, who say they have been discriminated against by Sana’a have fought six wars with Saleh’s government. They signed a peace treaty with the government in 2010.

Around a dozen opposition lawmakers also joined students who gathered outside Sana’a University.

The president, however, vowed not to quit under pressure from protesters.

“If they want me to quit, I will only leave through the ballot box,” Saleh told a news conference.

The president, in power since 1978, said the protests were “not new,” accusing his opponents of having been behind the demonstrations for a while.

Yemenis, inspired by revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia, took to the streets of capital Sana’a on February 12 to bring down the 32-year autocratic rule of Saleh.

As well as sporadic protests, the Arabian Peninsula state is also struggling with a secessionist movement in the south, a shaky ceasefire with Shi’ite rebels in the north and a resurgent al Qaeda presence, all against a backdrop of chronic poverty.

Some 300 anti-government student demonstrators assembled at Sanaa University on Saturday morning. As numbers swelled into the thousands, they began marching toward the Egyptian embassy.

“The people want the fall of the government,” protesters chanted. “A Yemeni revolution after the Egyptian revolution.”

But a group of government supporters armed with knives and sticks confronted the protesters at the central Tahrir Square. Scuffles broke out and the pro-government activists used traditional knives and batons to force the anti-government protesters to flee.

Two people were lightly injured, witnesses said.

The clash came after armed men forced around 300 anti-government protesters to quit an impromptu demonstration in the Yemeni capital on Friday night.

Yemeni authorities detained at least 10 people after anti-government protesters in Sanaa celebrated Mubarak’s downfall on Friday, U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said.

The group said the celebrations turned to clashes when hundreds of men armed with assault rifles, knives and sticks attacked the protesters while security forces stood by.

“The Yemeni security forces have a duty to protect peaceful protesters,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “In this case, security forces seem to have organized armed men to attack the protesters.”

Yemen’s ruling party set up tents in Sanaa’s central Tahrir Square last week to occupy the space and prevent people from gathering in large numbers.

Party officials handed out small amounts of money to reward pro-government protesters on Saturday. Some used the cash to buy food or Qat, a mild green stimulant leaf that more than half of Yemen’s 23 million people chew daily and which has been cited as a deterrent to protest.

On Saturday, Yemen said it respected the choice of the Egyptian people and would support them in their search for progress and development