Yemen clashes spread as leadership standoff continues (VIDEO)

Clashes broke out in the Yemeni city of Hudaida on Monday, and at least 15 people were wounded plainclothes police fired shots and protesters responded by hurling rocks, according to reports.

Meanwhile, Yemeni security forces in in the capital Sanaa have reportedly opened fire on anti-government protesters who had moved outside their stronghold close to Sanaa University. At least 22 people were reportedly wounded and doctors said about 200 demonstrators suffered tear gas inhalation, Euronews reported.

Residents of the Red Sea port of Hudaida told Reuters that plainclothes police attacked thousands of protesters who had moved beyond the square where they have been camped out for weeks in demonstrations calling for the end to the 32-year rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

About 15 people were reportedly wounded, two shot and the others beaten or hit with stones, doctors told Reuters.

Protests which gather tens of thousands of people almost daily have now run into their third month in Yemen.

The United States and Saudi Arabia fear a continued standoff could benefit the Al Qaeda cell operating in the deeply impoverished Arabian Peninsula state, where half the country's 23 million people are armed.

Reuters reported no major breakthrough from a Sunday night meeting between the Yemeni opposition and foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Saudi Arabia.

The Gulf Arab states have offered to mediate for Yemen, but the opposition wants Saleh removed as president and a quick handover of power.

Adding a new element to the protests, many women have reportedly joined the protests out of anger at comments made by Saleh that it was against Islam for women to join men in the demonstrations aimed at toppling him.

On Friday, President Saleh in a speech reportedly said that "the mixing of sexes as it is forbidden by Islam. The mixing of sexes is forbidden in the Al-Jami’ah Street.”

Female anti-government protesters, many clad in black Islamic dress with full face veils, protested in Sanaa and other cities on Saturday and Sunday, saying their role in rallies was religiously sound.

“We participated in the peaceful demonstrations beside our brothers in Al-Tagheer Square since early Feb. 2011. We were practicing our rights of expressing our opinions in a civilized way via peaceful demonstrations as granted by Yemen’s constitution,” said one, quoted by the Yemen Times. “After Friday prayers, President Saleh accused us of mixing with men in a manner forbidden by Islam in front of 5,000 people.”