Forces clash with protesters in 3 Sudanese cities
sudanese security forces clashed with protesters in three cities on Sunday as demonstrations against Omar Al Bashir’s rule continued for a fourth week, witnesses said.
Images circulated by activists online showed marches taking place in Khartoum and its northern twin cities of Omdurman and Bahary, despite security forces iring tear gas at the crowds. one group, hundreds strong, appeared to have reached Bahary’s main train station.
Security forces encircled the area and ired in the air to disperse crowds around the station, the main rally point for a gathering called by protest groups, professionalassociations and political opposition. Shops in the area have been almost entirely shuttered, eyewitnesses said, and crowds continued to gather.
Protesters burnt tyres to obscure the view of policemen chasing them down, in a cat-and-mouse game that lasted until after dark. Witnesses said security forces were breaking into local homes and businesses in pursuit of demonstrators taking refuge there.
“The people want the fall of the regime,” chanted a crowd in the area.
In Khartoum North, across the Blue Nile from the centre of the capital, security forces chased groups of protesters down side streets and ired tear gas to disperse demonstrations in several areas, a Reuters witness said. they also confronted pro testers with tear gas in Wad Medani, the capital of Gezira state, southeast of the capital, and for the irst time in Nyala, the main city in South Darfur, witnesses said.
Protests triggered by an economic crisis have rippled across Sudan since Dec.19 in the most sustained challenge yet to bash ir’ s close to 30-year rule.
Security forces have used live ammuni- tion and tear gas to break up demonstrations, as well as arresting protesters and opposition igures.
A government fact-inding committee has recorded 24 deaths and Amnesty International has said that at least 40 have died. Oficials have blamed the protests on “iniltrators” and said they are working to address economic problems.
In khartoum north on sunday hundreds of people braved a heavy security presence to protest despite police and other security personnel trying to clear the area ahead of the rally.
Some carried national lags and were chanting “freedom, freedom” and “with our soul, with our blood, we sacriice ourselves for you Sudan.” “We will continue to demonstrate until Bashir falls ... the country needs change,” one 36-year-old protester told Reuters.