Security forces fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of demonstrators in Port Sudan in the east of the country on Friday, demanding President Bashir steps down.
The marchers were intent on handing over a letter to the Red Sea State’s Governor in which they called on President Bashir, in power since 1989, to resign over his apparent failure to lift the country from her economic quagmire.
Protesters chanted, “the people want regime change” and “Bashir must go” before they were confronted by heavily armed security forces who fired into the crowds.
An eyewitness told the African Press Agency that two people were injured in the running battles with the security forces and scores were arrested.
Friday’s demonstration is the second in the city in three weeks.
It was part of nationwide protests called by the opposition to bring pressure to bear on President Bashir to relinquish power.
Nationwide demonstrations began on 19 December, in the city of Adbarh, in River Nile State in northern Sudan by students over bread shortages.
It spread quickly to 15 other Sudanese cities where tens of thousands of people took to the streets, demanding regime change.
Several buildings including the ruling party headquarters and government offices were burnt in Gederaf and Alshamalia states.
This prompted the authorities to introduce a state of emergency and a nighttime curfew in four states.
Accesses to popular social media sites including Facebook, Whatsapp and twitter were blocked.
Schools and universities were closed after a meeting between Mr. Bashir and top security officials including, the Defense minister, and the intelligence chief.
On Monday, security forces fired tear gas and live bullets to disperse hundreds of protesters near the presidential palace in the capital Khartoum.
The opposition Umma party accused government forces of excessive force on unarmed civilians and demanded an investigation.
In a statement issued earlier this week, Umma claimed 45 people were killed, 2,000 injured and 1,000 arrested in the ongoing protests.
But Information and Communications minister, Bashara Goama said 19 people had died in the protests.
In three separated speeches in four days President Bashir called the protesters saboteurs and traitors bent on derailing economic and political progress under his watch.
He blamed US sanctions and the civil war for the country’s economic crisis.
”We are subjected to both war and sanctions, but Sudan has remained steadfast,” he said in a speech on Thursday in Khartoum.
However, he vowed to introduce new economic measures and raise the salaries of government workers from January.
Sudan has been in dire economic straits since South Sudan seceded from the rest of the country in 2011, taking with it 75 percent of the oilfields.
Last September inflation in Sudan jumped to 66.82 percent.
It had failed to deal with a protracted shortage of bread, fuel, and money.
Citizens have been forming long queues at bakeries and filling stations for hours on end.
Banks are reportedly restricting customers’ daily withdrawals to 1000SGP (about $20) due to a shortage of cash.
Bashir came to power in a military coup in 1989 and has since then saw only two presidential elections in which he was announced the winner despite accusations by the opposition of widespread electoral fraud.