Protests over rising bread prices broke out across Sudan on Sunday, leading to the death of a student and the arrest of a prominent opposition leader as authorities confiscated newspapers and looked to clamp down on growing unrest.
The demonstrations followed a similar protest in the southeastern city of Sennar on Saturday after bread prices doubled following the government’s announcement late last month that it was eliminating subsidies in this year’s budget.
In the southeastern city of al-Damazin, police fired tear gas as about 400 demonstrators chanted “No, no to price rises” and some burned tires, a local resident said.
The removal of subsidies is part of austerity measures as the nation struggles in the face of inflation running at about 25 percent and an acute shortage of hard currency that has sapped import activity.
Austerity measures have sparked sporadic public protests in the past few years. Amnesty International says that up to 185 people might have been killed in 2013, when thousands took to the streets in demonstrations against fuel price increases.
Protests have since been much smaller and the main opposition parties have called for peaceful demonstrations against the bread price rises.
Protests on Sunday spread to downtown Khartoum, as well as three cities to the south — Nyala and Geneina — as well as al-Damazin, residents in these areas told reporters.
A high-school student was killed and six others wounded in Geneina during the protests, a statement from the Geneina governor said. It did not give a reason for the death, but said the incident would be investigated.
Authorities arrested opposition Sudanese Congress Party president Omar al-Dageir, members of the party said.
Authorities also blocked the sale of six daily newspapers carrying critical coverage of the subsidy cut and price rises, editors of the papers said.
The Sudanese Ministry of Interior could not be reached for comment.
Sudan has begun a series of economic reforms in line with IMF recommendations to try to bolster the economy, months after a US decision to lift sanctions raised hopes that badly needed investment might return.
Sudan this month devalued its currency to 18 pounds per US dollar, more than double its previous peg of 6.7 pounds to the dollar. The rate on the black market hit about 29 pounds to the dollar last week.
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