Sudanese soldiers reportedly protecting anti-government protesters

Sudanese soldiers reportedly protecting anti-government protesters amid violent crackdown

Reports are emerging that Sudanese soldiers are protecting demonstrators as thousands of anti-government protesters gathered outside the military headquarters in central Khartoum. Witnesses and activists said that riot police and secret service personnel charged the demonstrators with pickup trucks while firing tear gas and warning shots.

Mostly small but sustained protests have been staged regularly since December when the government tried to raise bread prices. Sudan’s 40 million people are suffering from a severe economic crisis caused in part by years of US sanctions and in part by the loss of oil revenues since South Sudan seceded in 2011. The protests have since turned against Bashir, a former army general who came to power in a military coup in 1989