Sudanese police used tear gas to disperse soccer fans who tried to stage a protest as soon as they exited a match in the capital Khartoum on Monday, the sixth day of anti-government protests in which at least 12 people have been killed.
Security in the capital had been fortified ahead of the planned protest. Car and pedestrian traffic in the city were reduced on Monday.
President Omar al-Bashir warned citizens against responding to “attempts to instill frustration”, his first public comments since the protests began on Wednesday last week.
He also vowed to introduce some “real reforms” even as trade unions, professional associations and others call for his resignation.
Eight unofficial unions of professionals planned a protest on Tuesday in central Khartoum less than 1 km from the presidential palace and plan hand deliver the presidency a memo calling for Bashir to step down immediately.
One of Sudan’s top opposition parties, Umma, backed the plans. Its leader Sadiq al-Mahdi, Sudan’s last democratically elected prime minister until he was overthrown by Bashir in a coup in 1989, returned to Sudan on Wednesday and addressed thousands of supporters, calling for a democratic transition.
The demonstrations are the biggest in several years against Bashir’s 29-year rule, with protesters enraged over price rises, shortages of basic goods and a cash crisis. Protests on Sunday also followed a football match.
Government officials have blamed the unrest on “infiltrators”. Officials and witnesses have recorded at least 12 deaths, though exact casualty figures are hard to ascertain.
Since the demonstrations started spreading on Wednesday, police have dispersed protesters with tear gas as well as using live ammunition in some cases, residents say. Authorities have shuttered schools and declared states of emergency and curfews in several states.
