At least 40 antigovernment protesters were injured when central security forces, republican guards and armed regime supporters intercepted a peaceful demonstration in Yemen's province of Hodeida, alsahwa-yemen.net reported on Wednesday.

The website quoted eyewitnesses as saying that armed people, believed to be forces in plainclothes, fired live bullets at and attacked demonstrators with batons, rocks and daggers and later the forces fired live bullets and teargas at the people.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets in the western city to call for forming a transitional council to manage the country's affairs and referring officials within the Saleh regime to court on charges of killing antigovernment protesters and inciting destruction and insecurity as well as stopping outlaws from committing sabotage.

The demonstration coincided with massive protests in several Yemeni cities in which the people urged to form a transitional council and start implementing the first objective the popular uprising.

The organizational committee of the youth-led uprising called earlier today for million-people demonstrations to press the ouster of the regime after Saleh's departure to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment.

It urged to form a transitional council this week, otherwise the youth-led protesters will do that themselves.

Furthermore, it called for massive demonstrations on Thursday in all cities to demand that Saleh, being treated in the Saudi kingdom from injuries he got in a rocket attack on his palace late last week, should not come back.

Saudi sources said on Wednesday that the president's condition was getting better after he underwent successful surgeries, though the U.S. said earlier that Saleh was still in critical condition and he will not be able to come back to his country soon as government officials said.