UPDATES WITH DEATHS; CHANGES HEADLINE
KHARTOUM (AA) - Demonstrations in Sudan spread to capital Khartoum on Thursday while at least two protesters were killed in the eastern city of Gadarif.
Demonstrators decry rampant inflation and months of deteriorating economic conditions.
Eyewitnesses reported violent demonstrations in the center of Khartoum and in the city’s Demi, Haj Yusuf and Arkweet neighborhoods.
Police used teargas and fired bullets into the air to disperse the crowds, while shops in the capital’s central market were closed, according to witnesses.
Meanwhile, in the eastern city of Gadarif, at least two demonstrators were killed and dozens more injured, according to a local MP.
In exclusive remarks to Anadolu Agency, parliamentarian Mubarak al-Nur confirmed that the ongoing protests in Gadarif had seen at least two demonstrators killed by security forces.
"Relatives of the dead have been unable to access the mortuary to recover the bodies," al-Nur said.
Dozens of others had sustained serious injuries, he added, prompting expectations that the death toll will rise further.
Demonstrations also continued in the northern city of Atbara -- for the second day in a row -- despite the imposition there of an official state of emergency.
And in the town of Zaidab (located some 250 kilometers north of Khartoum), protesters torched a government building, witnesses said.