18 January 2019•Update: 18 January 2019
KHARTOUM
Fresh protests erupted in Khartoum on Friday a day after two protesters were killed by security forces in the Sudanese capital.
According to witnesses, police used teargas to disperse hundreds of demonstrators who converged on the city’s eastern Barri district on Friday afternoon.
“Security forces fired shots into the air to disperse demonstrators gathered outside the home of one of the victims of Thursday's violence,” one witness told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity out of fear for his safety.
On Thursday, two people in Khartoum -- a child and a medical doctor -- when security forces used live ammunition to disperse demonstrators.
A third victim of Thursday’s violence succumbed to his injuries Friday morning.
Since mid-December, Sudan has been rocked by mass demonstrations in several parts of the country.
Protesters blame President Omar al-Bashir and his ruling National Congress Party for their apparent failure to remedy the country’s chronic economic woes and are calling for al-Bashir’s resignation.
According to government statements, more than 20 people have been killed in clashes between demonstrators and security forces since the protests began in earnest one month ago.
Opposition groups, for their part, put the death toll at closer to 40.
In power since 1989, al-Bashir has pledged to carry out urgent economic reforms amid ongoing calls by the opposition to continue demonstrating.
A nation of 40 million, Sudan has struggled to recover from the loss of some three quarters of its oil output -- its main source of foreign currency -- since the secession of South Sudan in 2011.
