Two groups of protesters met up in the city center where a general strike had closed shops and banks in what activists called the largest demonstration in this troubled southern city to date.
More than 120 people have been killed since Yemen's protests calling for the removal of President Ali Abdullah Saleh began on Feb. 11, inspired by popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.
In Taiz alone, 17 people were killed Monday when government forces opened fire on demonstrators.
Several cities in the country now host permanent “protest camps” in main squares, mimicking the two-week long Tahrir Square sit-in that brought down Egypt's president in February. On Friday, hundreds of thousands demonstrated against Saleh across the country. The president has offered to step down at the end of this year if a transfer of power acceptable to him is reached. But the opposition wants him to go now.
The rising death toll across the country has helped inflame public opinion against the government and sent even more people flooding into the streets. It has also angered Yemen’s Western allies and worried its Gulf neighbors.
Saleh has agreed to a Gulf Cooperation Council invitation to attend a meeting in Saudi Arabia. But opinion among the opposition was divided.
Opposition spokesman Mohammed Qahtan agreed to Gulf mediation if it was meant "to discuss a transfer of power only."
Other figures in the opposition remained cautious. "We welcome any effort that would lead to (Saleh's) immediate departure, but we haven't received anything to discuss yet," said Mohammed Al-Sabri, top opposition official.
“The dialogue in Saudi Arabia doesn't achieve the minimum demands of the youth. Any dialogue that doesn't involve quick departure of Saleh, is useless,” said Majed Al-Mazhaji, an activist and leading member of the opposition.