(CNN) -- Three top generals in Yemen declared their support for anti-government protests Monday as a wave of officials, including the deputy speaker of parliament, announced their resignations.
One of the generals who broke ranks will order his troops to protect civilians demonstrating against the country's longtime president, he said in Yemen.
Maj. Gen. Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar's announcement ramps up the pressure on President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is seeing cracks in his support after 32 years in power.
The general belongs to an important tribe whose backing is significant for Saleh.
A high-level Yemeni source said Saleh can hang on to power if he wants to unleash the forces that are still loyal to him.
The source does not know whether the president will do that and is not sure a tipping point has been reached.
Saleh has been a key United States ally as al Qaeda turns his country into a base. Radical American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki is believed to be hiding in Yemen.
The cleric has been linked to terror plots including the attempt to bomb a Detroit-bound plane on Christmas Day 2009, and he corresponded separately with a British Airways employee about trying to smuggle explosives onto planes.
Top American officials including U.S. President Barack Obama's counter-terror chief have traveled to Yemen to meet with Saleh, and leaked diplomatic cables suggest Saleh's government helped disguise strikes by U.S. unmanned drones on terror targets in Yemen as Yemeni actions.
Saleh may be reaching out to regional powers for support in the face of protests.
He is sending Foreign Minister Abu Bakr Al-Qirbi to Saudi Arabia with "a Presidential Letter to the Saudi Monarch," the first Yemeni source said, adding that he did not know what is in the letter.
Saudi Arabia is one of a number of Gulf nations that sent troops to Bahrain last week in the face of unrest there. The Saudis did not respond to requests for comments about the message from Saleh.
"Government officials in Yemen see what's going on today as having the signs of an early stage of a bloodless coup," the Yemeni official said.
But, according to a government official who is not authorized to speak to the media and asked not to be named, Saleh is not showing any signs of resigning.
"I'm bracing myself for military clashes," the official said.
Dozens of ambassadors and officials announced their support for the "peaceful revolution" on Monday, the source said.
They included a provincial governor, members of parliament and the governing party, and an official in the prime minister's office, plus top envoys to Saudi Arabia, China and Pakistan and diplomats in the U.S. and Russia.
Yemen's U.N. ambassador, who resigned Sunday, said Monday that Saleh should make a dignified exit for the good of the country.
"The president has done some good things, but everything has an end, and he should step down," Abdullah Al-Saidi said.
Senior U.S. officials believe that Saleh may have a hard time holding on amid all of these defections.
The officials say Al-Ahmar has strong connections, not only in the security apparatus but with the tribes, which is a powerful combination. However, it isn't at all clear what the youth and the opposition think of him, they said.
The European Union said Monday that it "strongly condemns the use of force against protesters and deeply deplores the injuries and loss of life caused. It urges the security forces to refrain from the use of violence immediately."
The EU and its members will "review their policies towards Yemen" if demonstrators are attacked again, it said.
Saleh dismissed his Cabinet on Sunday, after the weekend resignations of two top Yemeni officials to protest a government crackdown on protesters that left 52 people dead last week.
Saleh asked the officials to stay on until a new Cabinet is appointed, according to Tareq Al-Shami, a spokesman for the country's ruling party.
Yemen's embassy in the United States said there will be an investigation into the deaths of the protesters on Friday.
"The perpetrators of this heinous act will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law," the embassy said, expressing "its condolences and heartfelt sorrow for the loss of innocent lives."
Yemen's chief prosecutor has launched an investigation into the shootings in Sanaa on Friday and is questioning 17 people accused of orchestrating the massacre, the statement said.
Human Rights Minister Huda al-Bann resigned over the crackdown, according to an official in her office who is not authorized to speak to the media and asked not to be named.
The resignations came amid new signs of cracks in support for Saleh.
Senior ruling party member Mohammed Abulahoum said Sunday that Saleh "should seriously consider a good, safe exit strategy" to "prepare the foundation in Yemen for a good transfer of power from him to the next authority or president."
Abulahoum "strongly" condemned Friday's violence and, in protest, has withdrawn a plan he proposed to mediate between the president and the opposition.
Members of Saleh's own tribe are also calling for him to step down, according to Yemeni ruling party officials who have asked not to be named as they are not authorized to speak to the media.
Tens of thousands of people protested Sunday outside Sanaa University in the capital, eyewitnesses said. CNN was not able to independently confirm the size of the protests.
Funerals were held Sunday for some of the people killed in attacks Friday, with bodies of the victims carried through the streets.
In addition to the fatalities, more than 100 people were hurt Friday in clashes between tens of thousands of anti-government protesters and security forces outside the university, medical officials on the scene said.
Saleh announced that a state of emergency had been declared, and he expressed his "deep regret" over the casualties.
Witnesses said the clashes began after government supporters and anti-government demonstrators threw rocks at each other. Security forces shot into the air and then into the crowd; they also fired tear gas to try to disperse the crowd, witnesses said.
Yemen has been wracked by weeks of unrest, with thousands protesting Saleh's government.
High unemployment has fueled much of the anger among a growing young population steeped in poverty. The protesters also cite government corruption and a lack of political freedom.
The president has said he will not run for another term in the next round of elections. He also has pledged to bring a new constitution to a vote by the end of the year and transfer government power to an elected parliamentary system.
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