Fresh protests erupt in Sudan after Friday prayers

Sudanese flooded the streets after Friday prayers in a fifth day of protests against fuel price hikes that have seen dozens killed, hundreds arrested and calls for the government's ouster. The price rises, resulting from the government's scrapping of oil subsidies, have sparked the largest protests of President Omar al-Bashir's 24-year rule. Young activists have used chants from the Arab Spring to call for the president's downfall, and security forces have been accused of gunning down more than 50 people. Authorities on Friday shut the Khartoum offices of pan-Arab satellite channels Al-Arabiya and Sky News Arabia, the networks said. Activists had called for stepped-up demonstrations after weekly Muslim prayers, and security forces responded with a massive deployment on the streets of the capital and elsewhere. In the east of the capital hundreds of demonstrators threw stones at police vehicles and burned tyres to block a main road, an AFP correspondent said. Police fired tear gas to disperse them. Activists have urged further protests on Saturday. The interior ministry said 600 had been arrested "for participating in acts of vandalism and will be judged next week." The announcement came after around 2,000 protesters marched in Omdurman, the capital's twin city, chanting anti-army slogans and calling for an end to higher fuel prices. Police deployed in large numbers and watched from a distance as the demonstrators marched down a main thoroughfare chanting "Down to the army's power" and "No to price hikes." Soldiers stood guard outside Khartoum petrol stations as long lines of cars waited to fill up after several stations were torched or shut down in recent days. Internet access was restored after being cut off twice this week, but schools have been ordered closed until Monday and most shops remain shuttered, deepening the sense of crisis and sending residents scrambling to hoard supplies. "I want my family to have what we need because we don't know where this is all going," said Ahmad Hassan, 50, as he stocked up on canned goods. In an apparent bid to impose a media blackout on the unrest, Sudanese authorities shut the Khartoum office of pan-Arab satellite channel Al-Arabiya after summoning its correspondent for questioning, the network said. The correspondent for a second region-wide channel, Sky News Arabia, told AFP that authorities banned him from working and seized equipment from his office. Authorities also confiscated or blocked publication of three newspapers, although they are considered pro-government, journalists said. The Al-Sudani and Al-Majhar al-Siassi dailies were seized at the printing press while Al-Watan was ordered not to print after covering the unrest in its Thursday edition, they said. 'Deep concern' over reports of 50 killed The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies and London-based Amnesty International said 50 people were killed after being shot in the head or chest on Tuesday and Wednesday. "Local sources and activists have put the figure much higher, in excess of 100," a joint statement said. The two groups also expressed "deep concern" about reports of hundreds being arrested and urged the authorities "to ensure that they are protected from torture and other ill-treatment." Police confirmed there had been 29 fatalities after the rioting erupted on Monday, without giving further details. Medics and other sources said most had been shot dead. 'People want the fall of the regime' On Friday the United States described the crackdown as "brutal" and said excessive force had been used. The European Union also expressed concern about the deaths, calling on Khartoum to "respect the Sudanese people's right to freedom of expression, freedom of the media and freedom of assembly." A spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva urged security forces to exercise "utmost restraint." 'People want the fall of the regime' The protests began Monday in Wad Madani in Gezira state south of Khartoum, the scene of the first death, and later spread to Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, and Khartoum itself. "The people want the fall of the regime," protesters, many of them students, have chanted in Khartoum, echoing the refrain of Arab Spring protests that toppled several governments in 2011. Young activists called on demonstrators to keep up "the revolution and their protests" until the fall of the regime, urging the security forces to side with the people. Petrol and diesel prices at the pump shot up on Monday after fuel subsidies were scrapped in an effort to reform the economy in Sudan, whose citizens have been struggling with rising food and other costs for two years. Khartoum lost billions of dollars in oil receipts when South Sudan gained independence in 2011, taking with it about 75 percent of the formerly united country's crude production.