At least two pro-secession protesters were injured during clashes with the police on Sunday evening in Yemen's southern port city of Aden.

Police clashed with the secessionist activists as they were marching near the government compound and Aden's primary court in Mansoura neighborhood, injuring two people at the scene, a local police officer told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

"About two organizers of the secessionist rally were seriously injured during the clashes with police troops in Aden," the police officer said.

Medic sources confirmed to Xinhua that "two injured were shifted to the Naqeeb public hospital."

On Saturday, tens of thousands of pro-secession protesters rallied across Aden, marking the 19th anniversary of the start of the country's civil war and demanding independence from the north.

Supporters of the pro-secession Southern Movement stage daily rallies to protest against a national reconciliation dialogue that was launched last month by President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi as part of a UN-backed political settlement to preserve Yemen's unity.

The southerners complain of being economically and politically marginalized and discriminated against by the former regime since the northern troops won a four-month-long civil war in 1994.

The reconciliation talks aim to compensate the southerners, draft a new constitution and pave the way for general elections by February 2014.

However, leaders of the Southern Movement refused to join the talks, insisting that the north-based government should withdraw its troops from the south. Endi

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