At least 10 people were wounded and a car was set ablaze in fierce clashes between armed loyalists of the government and protesters demanding the ouster of the Yemeni president in the capital on Tuesday.

A Xinhua reporter said the clashes erupted when hundreds of the government backers wielding guns, daggers and batons charged towards thousands of anti-regime protesters outside Sanaa University.

He said the anti-regime protesters captured two government supporters carrying guns and handed them over to the police guards of the university.

The angry protesters also burned a car that transported the armed government backers, the Xinhua reporter said.

The injured were from both sides and were then rushed to the hospital, eyewitnesses told Xinhua.

Protesters were shouting "leave ... leave," in referring to the 33-year rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh who announced on Monday he will not "leave until defeated by rivals through ballots. "

Nearly 7,000 anti-regime protesters, mostly students, continued Tuesday a sit-in outside Sanaa University to ask the long-time president Saleh to resign.

The protester erected tents late Sunday at a place they named " Changing square" in front of the main gate of Sanaa University as security authorities blocked all roads leading to the campus.

Massive anti-Saleh rallies were reported Tuesday in southern provinces of Aden, Taiz, Ibb, al-Dhalee, Lahj and Al-Hodayda.