By AHMED AL-HAJ
The Associated Press
Friday, July 22, 2005; 11:49 AM

SAN'A, Yemen -- Yemeni troops backed by tanks dispersed groups of protesters after Friday prayers in the capital after two days of clashes over the doubling of fuel prices that have killed at least 36 people nationwide.

Small groups of worshippers departing prayers on Friday, the Muslim holy day, tried to rally for a third straight day but police corralled marchers and prevented them from converging.

On Hail street in downtown San'a, security forces backed by armored vehicles blocked protesters trying to move into other parts of the city.

"They were only a small bunch of people and were driven away easily," one police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns.

The protests mustered far fewer demonstrators than the violent street clashes Wednesday and Thursday that left dozens of Yemenis dead or hospitalized across the country.

Hundreds of troops backed by tanks were deployed in the main cites of this tribal-dominated nation, with military vehicles outside the capital's main mosques in a show of force.

What began Wednesday as anger over Yemen's crumbling economy turned into a rare open expression of fury at the country's leaders, with rioters demanding the government's ouster and burning pictures of top officials.

The clashes have not been confined to the capital, erupting in at least a half-dozen cities in the worse civil strife in more than a decade.

The decrepit economy has sparked growing resentment in the mountainous, tribal-dominated nation. Yemen discovered oil in 1986, but the profits have not trickled down to the public and the government has been accused of rampant corruption. Unemployment is 36 percent.

The cuts in fuel subsidies that prompted the violence meant a near doubling of prices of gasoline, diesel and kerosene _ with gas prices at the pump reaching $8 per gallon. Tickets for some public transport increased by about 30 percent.

The subsidy cuts are part of an economic reform program initiated after Yemen signed a 1995 agreement with the International Monetary Fund, which promised financial assistance in exchange for reforms including privatization and subsidy reductions.

Friday's clampdown came after eight demonstrators were killed late Thursday in the Red Sea city of Hudaydah, while two other protesters were killed in clashes in the southern port of Aden, police said.

At least 26 others were killed earlier Thursday and on Wednesday when the clashes erupted, according to police and medical officials.

Police said some 65 people had been arrested nationwide since Wednesday, while hospital officials said at least 100 people have been wounded.

Ronald Ofteringer a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in San'a said Friday that at least 63 people were wounded during rioting in the Yemeni capital during the previous two days.

"The ICRC is supporting the Yemeni Red Crescent Society in the capital and it has mobilized its ambulance services to evacuate wounded from the place where the riots occurred," Ofteringer said.

Six opposition parties issued a statement calling on the government to revoke the subsidy cuts, fight corruption and undertake comprehensive economic and administrative reforms. The parties also denounced the destruction of property and the killing of protesters.

Yemen is a close U.S. ally in the war on terrorism, waging a crackdown that has led to the arrests or killings of dozens of Islamic militants, and Washington has signed an economic pact with Yemen intended to open up its economy to international trade and investment.

But public cynicism toward the government is high. President Ali Abdullah Saleh announced last week that he would not run in presidential elections in September 2006, calling for a new generation to be allowed to govern. But many Yemenis dismissed the gesture, saying he would likely change his mind or bring his son into power.

The riots were the worst civil strife in Yemen since 1992, when price boosts also triggered riots.