Sanaa,Yemen (CNN) -- What seemed like hundreds of anti-government protesters gathered near Sanaa University in Yemen's capital early Thursday morning, a clear indication that many in the country were not satisfied with President Ali Abdullah Saleh's recent announcement that he would not seek re-election.
Protesters of all ages chanted and held signs with messages against poverty and the government. Some proclaimed that Saleh needed to step down.
As the protest quickly grew, there was very litte visible security in the area.
Demonstrators had said they would continue Thursday with a planned "Day of Rage" march in Yemen despite Saleh's concession on Wednesday.
Trying to quell a growing discontent in the country, Saleh said he will not seek re-election once his current term ends in 2013, after more than three decades in office.
Saleh also said he won't install his son to replace him. He has asked his political opponents "to re-engage in dialogue in hopes of reaching a sustainable and reconcilable political agreement," the Yemeni government said.
Thursday's protest come amidst a similar ongoing unrest in Egypt and a revolt in Tunisia that forced that nation's longtime strongman to flee to Saudi Arabia in mid-January.
King Abdullah of Jordan, meanwhile, has sacked his government and appointed a new prime minister in the face of protests there.
In Yemen, Saleh had called an emergency parliamentary meeting ahead of Thursday's protests.
The protests -- which have also caught on to various extents in Algeria and Sudan -- have proved to be "a real watershed event for the Arab world," said Blake Hounshell, managing editor of Foreign Policy magazine. "It's really unprecedented."
Saleh has been in office for 32 years and was last re-elected in 2006.
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