SUDAN: Protests break out in cities after call for mass rallies

Protests broke out in several Sudanese cities on Thursday and in many areas of the capital Khartoum, witnesses said, the most widespread demonstrations in a wave of anti-government unrest that began last month. Security forces fired tear gas at protesters in the Burri and al-Deem neighbourhoods of Khartoum and in the north of the capital, […]

Protests broke out in several Sudanese cities on Thursday and in many areas of the capital Khartoum, witnesses said, the most widespread demonstrations in a wave of anti-government unrest that began last month.

Security forces fired tear gas at protesters in the Burri and al-Deem neighbourhoods of Khartoum and in the north of the capital, a Reuters witness and other witnesses said.

There were also protests in Omdurman, Khartoum’s twin city, and in the eastern cities of Port Sudan and al-Qadarif, where hundreds of protesters gathered in the area of the main market, chanting “Down, that’s it! Freedom, freedom.” Triggered by a worsening economic crisis, protests calling for President Omar al-Bashir to step down have spread across Sudan since Dec. 19, the most sustained challenge yet to his three-decade rule.

The opposition Sudanese Professionals’ Association, a grouping of unionists that has led calls for demonstrations, had urged protesters to stage mass rallies from 1300 local time (1100 GMT) on Thursday, and march to Bashir’s palace on the banks of the River Nile in Khartoum.