Rallies spread against sinking economic conditions

CAIRO — Protests over worsening economic conditions resumed Saturday for a fourth consecutive day, with thousands taking to the streets in a string of Sudanese cities, including the capital Khartoum, as activists reported that authorities rounded up more than a dozen politicians from a leftist opposition coalition.

The continuing unrest is striking in a country where any potentially serious threat to President Omar Bashir’s 29year Islamic rule has been brutally quashed. The ongoing protests have taken on an increasingly political slant, with demonstrators calling on the Sudanese leader to step down and protesting what they see as rampant corruption under the watch of the general-turnedpresident.

Saturday’s unrest came as Bashir fired the governor of Gadaref, a province in eastern Sudan that is home to six of nine demonstrators who died Thursday in clashes with police, according to Sudan’s state news agency. Meanwhile, Sudanese activists in Khartoum said by phone that authorities on Saturday detained 14 members of a leftist opposition coalition they accuse of fomenting the unrest. Among those detained is Farouk Abu Issa, the 85-yearold leader of the National Consensus Forces. They spoke on condition of anonymity.

The state news agency said schools have been indefinitely closed in a province north of Khartoum and in North Darfur province west of the capital. Authorities also placed the eastern cities of Kosti and Rabak under curfew.

The protests are mostly about rising prices and shortages of food and fuel. There has also been a liquidity crunch that forced authorities to limit bank withdrawals and caused long lines at ATMs. A devaluation of the Sudanese pound in October caused a significant spike in inflation, in some cases doubling the price of basic goods.

Bashir came to power in a 1989 military coup backed by Islamists. It overthrew a democratically elected but dysfunctional government led by then prime minister Sadeq al-Mahdi, who triumphantly returned to Sudan last week after a year of self-imposed exile. Thousands of supporters received him.

Activists flooded social media Saturday with images purporting to show protesters apparently shot by police being carried away by fellow demonstrators. Others showed protesters lying on the street in a pool of blood.

Hamza Hendawi is an Associated Press writer.