Clashes erupt as Sudanese march on presidential palace

CAIRO — Police used tear gas and fired in the air Tuesday to disperse thousands of protesters attempting to march on the presidential palace to demand that Omar Bashir, Sudan’s president of 29 years, step down, according to activists and video clips posted online. Organizers say hundreds were injured and at least eight suffered gunshot wounds.

The clips purported to show crowds of several hundred each gathering on side roads and headed toward the palace on the bank of the Blue Nile in the heart of Khartoum. They sang patriotic songs and chanted “freedom,” “peaceful, peaceful against the thieves” and “The people want to bring down the regime.” The latter was the most popular slogan of the 2010 and 2011 Arab Spring revolts.

One clip showed the seemingly lifeless body of a protester in Khartoum being carried and placed inside a car that drove away.

The protester’s head showed a gaping wound and the voice of another protester could be heard saying he was deliberately shot by a sniper. Earlier images circulated by activists showed police snipers on rooftops near the palace ahead of the march.

Another clip purported to show two other protesters suffering gunshot wounds to the head and the legs as they were being attended to in a clinic. There were no reliable casualty figures available.

The march’s organizer, an umbrella of independent professional unions, said at least eight protesters were shot, three of whom were in serious condition and that hundreds were hurt when police hit them with batons or used tear gas to disperse them.

Large numbers of security forces were deployed across much of Khartoum on Tuesday in anticipation of the march, with soldiers riding in all-terrain vehicles. Police fired in the air, used tear gas and hit demonstrators with batons to disperse them, only for the crowds to assemble again and try and continue their march in pitched battles. Activists said the fighting continued after nightfall.

The protest was called by the umbrella of independent professional unions and supported by the country’s largest political parties, Umma and Democratic Unionist.

The organizers want to submit a petition demanding that Bashir, who has ruled since he seized power in a 1989 military coup, step down.

It said late Tuesday that it would continue to work for the ouster of Bashir.

Tuesday’s march follows nearly a week of protests initially sparked by rising prices and shortages of food and fuel, but which later escalated into calls for Bashir to go. The Sudanese leader was in the al-Jazeera region south of Khartoum on a previously scheduled visit Tuesday.