The security forces shot dead a young man who was tearing up a poster of Saleh during a demonstration in Taez, some 200 kilometres (125 miles) south of the capital Sanaa, said medics and witnesses.
His killing took the death toll to nearly 100 from a crackdown on anti-regime protests that erupted in the Arabian Peninsula country in late January, according to international human rights watchdogs.
Yemen`s opposition had told Saleh to end his three-decade grip on power by handing over to his deputy for a period of transition, a proposal the veteran leader brushed off a day later on Sunday.
At least 1,200 others were injured Sunday in Taez, some with live rounds, as police used tear gas and batons to disperse the protesters, said medics in the city`s Al-Thawra hospital, adding many of them were in a critical condition.
Witnesses told AFP police cars in the area were taking wounded protesters away to an unknown destination.
Police kept firing as security forces pushed back the demonstrators to a square where they have been holding a sit-in as part of nationwide protests demanding Saleh resign, the witnesses added.
Meanwhile, hundreds poured to the site of the clashes to support the protesters.
The opposition, which has led the more than two month old protests, had called on the president on Saturday to hand over power to his deputy.
In a new "vision for a peaceful and secure transition of power," the opposition Common Forum urged Saleh "to announce his resignation, so that his powers pass to his deputy."
Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, who is from the southern province of Abyan, is a member of Saleh`s ruling General People`s Congress.
It was the first time the opposition had presented a proposal for the transition of power which it has been demanding since anti-Saleh protests broke out in late January.
In what appeared to be a response to the proposal, Saleh told visitors the Common Forum should "end the crisis through calling off protests and removing roadblocks".
Saleh had last week said he was "not clinging on to power," in an abstract statement stressing that he wanted to transfer power to the people.
"I will transfer power to the people, who are the source and owner of power," he said, warning Yemen was a "time bomb" and could slide into civil war like Somalia across the Gulf of Aden.
Young activists among the protesters appeared to distance themselves from the opposition`s proposal, announcing at the podium of their main sit-in in Sanaa that their demand remained the "departure of the president and all the figures of his regime."
Under the opposition plan, the vice president would take over on a caretaker basis and embark on a reorganisation of the myriad security agencies, which are the backbone of Saleh`s regime.
"An agreement would be reached with the temporary president on the form of power during the transitional period, based on national consensus," the opposition statement said.
It stipulated a transitional national council should begin a wide-reaching national dialogue, and that a panel of experts should be formed to draft constitutional reforms.
It said a government of national unity should be formed to manage the transition, along with an interim military council made up of "officers known for their competence and integrity, and who are respected in the army."
A high electoral commission would be formed to oversee the holding of a referendum on constitutional reforms, as well as parliamentary and presidential elections.
In addition, the opposition stressed the "right to peaceful expression, demonstrations and sit-ins for all the people of Yemen," and demanded an investigation into the use of deadly force by security force personnel against protesters.
It said those responsible for the attacks on demonstrators "should be tried, while those wounded and disabled and the families of martyrs should be compensated."
In the face of more than two months of protests, which Amnesty International says have cost at least 95 lives in clashes with security forces, Saleh had offered to step down before his term runs out in 2013.
But he has hardened his stance since a massive pro-regime rally on March 25.
Protest leaders say the Yemeni strongman has been emboldened by US support for an ally seen by Washington as a key partner in its battle against Al-Qaeda. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
