Hundreds protest demonstrator's death in Sudan

Hundreds of people protested in Sudan’s city of Omdurman on Monday, chanting “the people want the fall of the regime”, witnesses said, after the family of a man shot at an anti-government protest last week said he had died of his wounds, Reuters reports.

Hundreds of people protested in Sudan’s city of Omdurman on Monday, chanting “the people want the fall of the regime”, witnesses said, after the family of a man shot at an anti-government protest last week said he had died of his wounds.

Sudan has been shaken by near-daily demonstrations for over a month. They were set off by a worsening economic crisis but quickly turned into growing calls for an end to President Omar al-Bashir’s three-decade rule.

The family of 24-year-old trainee engineer Alfateh Omar al-Nemeir told Reuters he had died “affected by his bullet wound to the eye (sustained) during his participation in the peaceful demonstration in the Burri neighbourhood last Thursday.”

Read: Bashir allows Israel’s Netanyahu to fly over South Sudan

An opposition-linked doctors’ committee had said a child and a doctor was shot dead during protests on Jan. 17 in Burri, a neighbourhood in the capital Khartoum, across the Nile from Omdurman.

A police spokesman denied a child had died and said no live fire had been used since the protests began. Bashir blamed the doctor’s death on “infiltrators”.

A 60-year-old man also died from a gunshot wound sustained in Burri, and his funeral became a flashpoint for widening protests on Friday.

Sudan on Monday froze the credentials of two journalists who have covered the anti-government protests.

Qatar’s state news agency QNA meanwhile said Bashir will visit Qatar this week and meet Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who has offered him support since the protests began.

Sudan has been shaken by near-daily demonstrations for over a month. They were set off by a worsening economic crisis but quickly turned into growing calls for an end to President Omar al-Bashir’s three-decade rule.

Read: Can Sudan protests succeed without a leader to replace Al-Bashir?

The family of 24-year-old trainee engineer Alfateh Omar al-Nemeir told Reuters he had died “affected by his bullet wound to the eye (sustained) during his participation in the peaceful demonstration in the Burri neighbourhood last Thursday.”

An opposition-linked doctors’ committee had said a child and a doctor was shot dead during protests on Jan. 17 in Burri, a neighbourhood in the capital Khartoum, across the Nile from Omdurman.

A police spokesman denied a child had died and said no live fire had been used since the protests began. Bashir blamed the doctor’s death on “infiltrators”.

A 60-year-old man also died from a gunshot wound sustained in Burri, and his funeral became a flashpoint for widening protests on Friday.

Sudan on Monday froze the credentials of two journalists who have covered the anti-government protests.

Qatar’s state news agency QNA meanwhile said Bashir will visit Qatar this week and meet Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who has offered him support since the protests began.