The move escalates the showdown between U.S.-backed leader
President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, after serving as a lieutenant colonel in the army. He had been part of the conspiracy that bumped off his predecessor, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, in the usual tiresome military coup, and he has maintained power by keeping Yemen's many tribes fighting with each other, rather than uniting to string him up. ...
and the movement that has unified military commanders, religious leaders and protesting youth in demands for his immediate departure.
The law suspends the constitution, allows media censorship, bars street protests and gives security forces 30 days of far-reaching powers to arrest and detain suspects.
Its adoption was a virtual certainty because Saleh's ruling party dominates the 301-seat legislature.
The accelerating conflict has raised fears that Yemen could be pushed into even greater instability. Rival factions of the military have deployed tanks in the capital, Sanaa -- with units commanded by Saleh's son protecting the president's palace, and units loyal to a top dissident commander protecting the protesters.
Saleh, who has worked closely with a U.S.-offensive against the Yemeni branch of al-Qaeda, has already dramatically increased his crackdown on anti-government demonstrators, with his security forces shooting dead more than 40 protesters on Friday in Sanaa.
On Tuesday he offered to step down by the year's end, but the opposition rejected his offer.
He also warned that the country would slide into civil war following the defection of senior army commanders to the opposition.
Tribal leaders, diplomats, politicians, provincial governors and newspaper editors have also joined the opposition.