Security forces in Sudan fired teargas to quell protests on Thursday, after people took to the streets chanting anti-government slogans.
A state of emergency was declared in the Atbara city on Wednesday after hundreds of people protested against price increases and set fire to the local headquarters of the ruling party.
A curfew was declared from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. in Atbara — Sudan’s railway hub, with a large railworker population manning various lines, interchanges and maintenance workshops — the state security committee said.
Atbara is historically a hotbed for anti-government protests.
“Today, the headquarters of the ruling party in the city of Atbara and the headquarters of the local government and a fuel station were burned,” Hatem al-Wassilah, governor of the Nile River state, said on Sudania 24 TV.
Taming inflation
A decision to reduce bread subsidies this year sparked rare nationwide protests in Sudan after bread prices doubled. But Sudan increased flour subsidies by 40 percent in November.
Port Sudan, the capital of Red Sea state, also saw limited protests on Wednesday, witnesses told Reuters.
Sudan’s annual inflation edged up to 68.93 percent in November from 68.44 percent in October.
Prime Minister Motazz Moussa said inflation for the full year 2018 was expected to be 63 percent.
Severe shortages of fuel and bread, both subsidised by the government, have forced people in the capital and other cities to queue at bakeries and petrol stations.
Earlier on Wednesday, Moussa said Sudan’s 2019 budget included 66 billion Sudanese pounds ($1.39 billion) in subsidies, 53 billion of which is for fuel and bread.
By Africanews
