New protests broke out in Sudan on Thursday as medical officials said 29 people were killed in three days of rioting sparked by a government decision to scrap fuel subsidies. As the protests escalated, the largest since President Omar al-Bashir seized power in 1989, the leader wanted for war crimes and genocide cancelled a planned trip to the UN General Assembly. The latest protests began in the Inqaz district south of Khartoum where some 3,000 people marched on the main road and hurled stones at passing cars, witnesses said. Police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets, the sources said, but no casualty figures were immediately available. Earlier on Thursday, a hospital source in Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman said “we have received the bodies of 21 people” since the protests first broke out on Monday, adding that all were “civilians”. Another eight people were killed in other regions, witnesses and families said. The new protests in the capital came after anti-riot forces deployed from the early morning at major road intersections. There was rioting in several Khartoum districts on Wednesday, some near the city centre, and public transport ground to a halt. The demonstrations continued late into Wednesday night and spread to new neighbourhoods. “Freedom, freedom!” and “The people want the fall of the regime!” shouted protesters, many of them students, borrowing the refrain of the Arab Spring protests which toppled several governments in 2011. “We came out, we came out against those who have stolen our sweat,” they chanted, according to a video uploaded on YouTube. Protesters tried to torch a tourism ministry building in southern Khartoum, witnesses said, adding that its exterior was scorched. The protests first erupted in Wad Madani in Gezira state south of Khartoum, the scene of the first death on Monday. They have also spread to Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state. Many students have been reported as taking part in the trouble, and the education authorities have announced the closure of schools until September 30. Internet access remained cut on Thursday, users said, but it was still not known if this was a technical failure or a deliberate move by the authorities. The American embassy urged its citizens to avoid flashpoint areas, saying it had received “regrettable” reports of casualties and warning of further protests.
