Sudanese police have fired tear gas to disperse anti-government protesters in the capital Khartoum ahead of a planned march against a deteriorating economic condition in the African country.
The violence took place on Monday as public calls for the resignation of the country’s President Omar al-Bashir have escalated in the wake of deadly anti-government demonstrations over the past weeks.
The Sudanese government deployed hundreds of policemen and security forces to key squares across the capital in the early morning to prevent the march against rising prices as well as food and fuel shortages.
Reports said crowds of people gathered in downtown Khartoum, chanting "freedom, peace and justice," and "revolution is the people's choice," before they were confronted by anti-riot police.
The Monday march was organized by a group of professionals, including doctors, teachers and engineers, who announced in a statement that said, "We will march towards the presidential palace calling for President Omar al-Bashir to step down.”
In a meeting with top police officers in Khartoum on Sunday, Bashir instructed police to refrain from using excessive force against protesters after Sudan's Information Ministry said 19 people, including two security personnel, were killed in clashes in the initial days of demonstrations that erupted on December 19.
PressTV-37 protesters killed by police in Sudan: Amnesty
Large numbers of security forces were deployed across much of Khartoum Tuesday.
Amnesty International, however, said Sudan's security forces had shot dead at least 37 protesters during the anti-government rallies.
"We want to maintain security and we want the police to do that by using less force," Bashir said."We admit that we have economic problems ... but they can't be solved by destructions, lootings, and thefts," he added, referring to the buildings and offices of the president's ruling party torched by protesters in several cities during the previous demonstrations.
Bashir’s order came after the United Nations called for “calm and restraint” as well as a “thorough investigation” into the deaths and violence during the fresh round of demonstrations in the African country.
Sudan is mired in economic woes, including an acute foreign currency shortage and soaring inflation, which is running at close to 70 percent.
Authorities have declared curfews and a state of emergency in several states.
Sporadic protests broke out in January this year over the rising cost of food, but they were soon brought under control with the arrest of opposition leaders and activists.
PressTV-Sudan’s Bashir dissolves government amid econ. crisis
Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir dissolves the government and appoints a new prime minister in a move aimed at fixing the country’s ailing economy.
Sudan’s economy reportedly began deteriorating after South Sudan seceded from it in 2011, taking with it three-quarters of the country’s original oil output and a huge part of foreign currency.
The US dollar exchange rate has recently risen from an official rate of about 30 Sudanese pounds to about 47 Sudanese pounds on the black market.
The lifting of a 20-year-old US trade sanction on Sudan last year was expected to improve the economy; however, the economic situation worsened as the black market for the US dollar has in effect replaced the formal banking system.Source: presstv.com
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