February 17, 2011 -- Updated 1213 GMT (2013 HKT)
Yemeni regime loyalists throw stones towards anti-government protesters during clashes in central Sanaa on Thursday.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: At least 20 people are injured when pro- and anti-government forces clash, a source says
- Yemen has seen nearly a week of daily demonstrations as protests sweep the region
- Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been in power for 32 years
Ahmed Hashid, the lawmaker, said police at the scene did not try to intervene.
The clashes came after anti-government protesters tried to find a place to hold their demonstration, the government opponents told CNN.
They had planned to gather at Sanaa University but found government supporters there, who forced them to leave, they said.
The clash took place in western Sanaa, with about 600 government opponents there at the peak, they claimed.
By the time CNN arrived, there were about 100 anti-government protesters and 300 to 400 supporters of the government near the intersection of Rabat Street and Fitteen Street.
One injured person was carried away while CNN was present. It was not clear how serious the injuries were.
Gunfire was heard in the area but it was difficult to determine who was shooting or what the target was.
Yemen has been convulsed by daily protests for nearly a week, as demonstrations sweep the region. Popular protests have toppled the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt this year.
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been in power for 32 years, and he has pledged not to run for re-election when his current term ends in 2013.
It is not clear who the pro-government demonstrators are. Anti-government activists say the government is putting hired thugs and plainclothes police on the street to break up protests.
Pro-government demonstrators have told CNN they are there out of their own volition and are not being paid.
The government has not responded to CNN questions about the pro-government demonstrators.
There were reports that one person was killed in an anti-government protest in the Yemeni city of Aden on Wednesday.
Human rights activists accused pro-government demonstrators of beating students after a similar protest in Sanaa on Wednesday.
Witnesses in Aden said the victim was an 18-year-old who had been shot by security forces trying to disperse the crowd.
Video distributed by student activists appeared to show the youth being carried away, bleeding heavily from his left side. But CNN could not independently confirm the authenticity of the video, and there was no immediate confirmation of the fatality from hospital officials.
The Aden protest drew thousands of demonstrators, mostly students, to the city's Al Mansoora district for a sixth straight day.
And in Sanaa, students at Sanaa University rallied inside the gates of the campus in a demonstration organized by the head of the university's student union, said Omar Al-Nihmi, a third-year media student at the school.
The three students injured in Sanaa were attacked while on their way home from the university demonstration, human rights activist Abdul Rahman Barman said.
Barman said he took one of the students to the hospital with head injuries from being hit with sticks, but the other two had only minor injuries.
The students started out calling for an improved curriculum, for removal of the university dean and for security forces to remain off-campus. But about 90 minutes into the event, the mood turned anti-government, said third-year student Salah Al-Janadi.
More students showed up, both Al-Nihmi and Al-Janadi said, and the protesters began chanting anti-government slogans such as "The people want the fall of the regime" and "Oh Ali, son of Saleh, your regime is no good."
They also chanted, "Our protests are peaceful and we don't have weapons."
Shortly afterward, hundreds of pro-government demonstrators turned up -- but they were outside the university gates, while the students were inside.
The pro-government demonstrators began throwing rocks, Al-Janadi said.
Al-Janadi said he was told by the protest organizers "that because today's protest was a student union protest at the university, security forces at the scene would not interfere."
Hundreds of police were on the scene as well. They did not interfere with protesters, Al-Janadi said, but fired bullets into the air, successfully dispersing the crowds.
Journalist Hakim Almasmari contributed to this report.
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