The protesters were among tens of thousands spilling onto the streets of several Arab cities yesterday after Muslim clerics fired up crowds by condemning the U.S.-led attack on Iraq.

In Yemen, an 11-year-old boy and a policeman were among those shot dead in the capital city Sana'a after police blocked swarms of protesters from marching toward the embassy.

Hundreds of officers tried to stop the crowd with tear gas and water cannons before firing rifles into the air.

But protesters - chanting "No American and no British Embassy on Yemeni land!" and "Death to America! Death to Israel!" - hurled stones at police lines.

Armor-clad cops fired rubber bullets at a smaller crowd in Bahrain, while tear gas was used to disperse demonstrators in Egypt and Jordan.

In Cairo, 10,000 people chanted anti-U.S. slogans as they gathered near the country's biggest mosque.

"Islam is being raped," said Um-Mohammed, an Egyptian woman demonstrating outside the Al-Azhar mosque.

The violent protests came after Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, the Grand Sheik of Al-Azhar, called for holy war against the United States.

After the sermon, thousands of unruly protestors were chased away by helmeted riot cops with shields and sticks.

Authorities arrested 50 people.

With Post Wire Services