Khartoum protests call on Sudan's Bashir to step down

The Friday protests took place in at least eight different districts in Khartoum, including the capital’s twin city of Omdurman, where supporters of opposition leader Sadeq al-Mahdi took to the streets after noon prayers.

Protesters chanting "freedom, peace and justice" poured out of a mosque in Omdurman, parallel to Khartoum on the west bank of the Nile, witnesses said.

There were also protests in the railway city of Atbara, a traditional bastion of dissent and one of several cities where anti-government demonstrations began 19 December, initially over rising prices and shortages but which quickly shifted to calls for al-Bashir to step down.

At least 40 people are reported to have been killed in the protests.

Bashir has been in power since 1989 when he led a military coup that toppled an elected government.

Several opposition leaders, activists and journalists have been arrested as part on an ongoing crackdown by security forces to prevent the spread of protests.

On Thursday, security agents arrested prominent journalist and columnist Faisal Mohamed Salih from his office in Khartoum, his relatives told AFP.

Salih was the 2013 recipient of Peter Mackler Award for ethical journalism.

Sudan is facing an acute foreign exchange crisis and soaring inflation despite the United States lifting a two-decade trade embargo in 2017.

Agencies contributed to this report.

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