Sanaa , Yemen ( CNN ) -- Thousands of demonstrators , mostly students , lined the streets Friday outside Sanaa University as anti-government protests continued . Anti-government throngs also hit the streets in Aden in southern Yemen , according to eyewitnesses . Eyewitnesses reported that security forces tried to disperse the crowd with tear gas and attacked using batons -- an account authorities disputed . The eyewitnesses said 11 demonstrators in Aden were wounded while one died of gunshot wounds . Authorities insisted no one had been killed . Protests also were reported in the cities of Taiz and Ibb . The protest in Sanaa , the capital , was countered by a pro-government demonstration on Tahrir Square , where thousands waved flags and held up pictures of President Ali Abdullah Saleh . `` We are gathering in support of President Saleh 's initiative and to show the international community that we are with Saleh and that the opposition does not control the streets , '' Interior Ministry spokesman Mohammed Maueri said before the demonstration . Anti-government protesters said they were looking for the regime to end . `` This protest and all the following protests are for the fall of the regime , '' said Noman Saleem , an anti-government demonstrator . `` We will not slow down until it falls . Whether it takes place today or tomorrow , we are patient , and we will wait . '' Hasam Zaid , general-secretary for the opposition Haq party , said the Sanaa University gathering is a `` people 's protest '' that is n't being coordinated by any particular political party . `` We are joining the youth to be among them and not to lead them , '' he said . Saleh has ruled Yemen since 1978 . The country has been wracked by a Shiite Muslim uprising , a U.S.-aided crackdown on al Qaeda operatives and a looming shortage of water . High unemployment has fueled much of the anger among a growing young population steeped in poverty . The protesters also cite government corruption and a lack of political freedom . Saleh has promised not to run for president in the next round of elections , and he has said he supports the creation of a national unity government to oversee upcoming parliamentary elections . But he has refused to step aside immediately . On Monday , he compared the anti-government protests to an illness sweeping through the region . `` This is a virus and is not part of our heritage or the culture of the Yemeni people , '' he told reporters . `` It 's a virus that came from Tunisia to Egypt . And to some regions , the scent of the fever is like influenza . As soon as you sit with someone who is infected , you 'll be infected . ''
Protests are also reported in Aden , Taiz and Ibb . Government loyalists also come out in Tahrir Square . Opposition supporters are outside at Sanaa University . `` We will not slow down '' until the regime falls , one protester says .