Angry Yemenis took to the streets of Aden today, as security forces surrounded mosques and government buildings to thwart fresh protests after two days of riots over fuel price hikes killed more than 20 people.
Shopkeepers closed their premises to prevent any looting this evening in Aden's main commercial district and the poor suburb of Sheikh Osman.
Witnesses said the protests were quickly disbanded by the army, spread throughout the southern port city.
An Interior Ministry statement said 22 citizens died and 375 were wounded, including 255 police and security forces, during disturbances triggered by the removal of subsidies on Wednesday.
The riots were the worst since 1998 in Yemen, a poor and mountainous country of 19 million at the tip of the Arabian peninsula, and drew fire from opposition parties and clerics.
Analysts said the protests were unlikely to rattle long-serving President Ali Abdullah Saleh - a US ally in the war on terrorism - who has weathered worse storms in the past, including a civil war.
In his sermon, Grand Mosque preacher Sheikh Akram al-Rukaihi, said the government should have battled widespread corruption before increasing fuel prices and affecting the country's already impoverished people.
"We must crack down on corruption which has grown to monstrous proportions, for bellies have become bloated with public funds," he said, echoing critics' calls for government to cut its budget deficit by ending misuse of state money. But he also criticised the thousands of Yemenis who went on the rampage on Wednesday and yesterday, clashing with police, to protest the increase.
Protesters this week smashed and torched government offices, shops and cars. Yesterday, they stormed an oil facility in the Red Sea city of Houdeida but were shot at by riot police.
In Washington, the IMF said the elimination of fuel subsidies was one of a set of tough measures the government had taken to adapt to the expected decline in oil output. The IMF said it had also pressed the Yemeni authorities to increase the coverage of a social welfare fund that distributes cash subsidies to impoverished families. According to World Bank figures, more than 42 percent of Yemen's population live below the poverty line, illiteracy is around 50 percent and unemployment is more than 20 percent.
The population is expected to double in 20 years. International donors have warned that these factors may overwhelm Yemen. They say the situation requires restructuring of the bloated public sector, ending corruption and promoting rule of law to woo investors.