At least three Sudanese protesters were wounded by gunshots on Tuesday when security forces dispersed rallies in the capital, witnesses said, after a week of demonstrations against President Omar al-Bashir’s three-decade rule.
Sources say security forces barred protesters at one location in Khartoum from marching on the presidential palace by firing teargas and shots in the air.
Witnesses told Reuters that three protesters were wounded by gunshots, one of them in the head.
A police spokesman was not immediately available to comment. Officials have previously said the security forces exercised restraint and dealt with the protesters in a “civilised manner”.
Officials and witnesses have previously said at least 12 people have been killed in the unrest so far. Amnesty International said on Tuesday at least 37 people had died.
Rising prices, shortages of basic commodities and a cash crisis have driven protesters to the streets across Sudan to demonstrate against Bashir, who took power in a military coup backed by Islamists in 1989.
Bashir, one of the longest serving rulers in Africa and the Middle East, told a rally in central Jazeera state on Tuesday that people who had destroyed institutions and burned public property were “traitors” and “mercenaries”.
