Deadly fuel-hike protests continue in Sudan

Sudanese security forces have opened fire on demonstrators, killing at least four, as thousands marched through the streets of the capital in continuing protests over fuel price hikes.

About 3,000 people, angered by a police crackdown on previous protests, also demonstrated after Friday prayers in Khartoum’s twin city Omdurman, across the Nile, shouting “Freedom! Freedom!” and “The people want the fall of the regime!”. Clashes also took place in the city of Wad Medani.
At least 700 people involved in Friday’s demonstrations were arrested.
The protests over the last week, in which at least 50 people have been shot dead according rights groups, are seen as the biggest domestic challenge faced by President Omar al-Bashir since he came to power after a coup in 1989.
The US condemned the clashes this week calling it “heavy handed” and disporportionate.”
“Such a heavy-handed approach by Sudanese security forces is disproportionate, deeply concerning, and risks escalation of the unrest,” said US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki on Friday.

‘Shoot-to-kill’ policy
On Thursday, Human rights groups had blamed the government of violent repression of protesters by adopting a shoot-to-kill policy.
Police fired teargas, sending some protesters running for cover. But most remained, some hurling stones at the police, others torching cars.
More than 2,000 people protested in Khartoum’s northern Bahri district, a hot-spot for days of unrest, and other areas, witnesses said.
“People will not be stopped by the killings until this rotten regime leaves,” one witness and Umma Party member, Mohammed al-Mahdi, told the AP news agency.
Security forces opened fire on a march on 60th Street in eastern Khartoum, one witness said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons. There was no immediate reports on casualties.
Sudan’s economy was severely hit after South Sudan broke off and became an independent state in 2011, taking Sudan’s main oil-producing territory.
“Will the government’s use of live ammunition keep the people from taking to the streets, or will it give them more reason to do so?” said Al Jazeera’s Harriet Martin, reporting from Khartoum.
Protests first erupted this week in the town of Wad Madani, south of Sudan’s capital, then spread to Khartoum and seven other cities after the government cut subsidies on fuel and gas on Sunday, causing prices to rise.
Angry protesters torched police and gas stations and government buildings, while students marched chanting for Bashir’s ousting.
The subsidy cuts are part of a programme worked out with the International Monetary Fund aiming at salvaging the economy after the break with the south, seeking to cut state spending while encouraging non-oil sectors.
Bashir justified the new measures, saying they would rescue the country from “collapse”.

Source: Aljazeera