Protesters demonstrate against the Houthi movement in Sanaa January 28, 2015.

Armed members of Yemen’s Houthi rebels were holding a number of student protestors at Sanaa University on Thursday, an Al Arabiya News Channel correspondent has reported.

The armed men also beat the students as demonstrations against the militia group continued in the country’s capital, the correspondent added.

Earlier, the Houthis detained protesters for the third time this week to prevent another rally in Sanaa taking place against their tightening grip on the capital, witnesses told Agence France-Presse.

They said the militiamen also used batons against the demonstrators, a number of whom were injured.

“No to confessionalism,” the protesters chanted before being forced to abandon a planned march through the center of Sanaa.

It was the third such incident since Sunday, following President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi’s announcement three days earlier that he was handing in his resignation.

Opponents of the Houthis have been urging demonstrations against their occupation of the capital, which has plunged Yemen into crisis.

The militia, who descended from their base in Yemen’s north to overrun Sanaa in September, last week seized control of the presidential palace and key government buildings. On Tuesday, however, they freed a top aide to Hadi.

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