KHARTOUM - Security forces arrested 14
professors who were gathering to protest outside Khartoum
University on Tuesday, witnesses said, as anti-government
demonstrations neared the end of their eighth week.
Doctors also rallied outside state and private hospitals in
Sudan's capital and other cities against the rule of President
Omar al-Bashir, witnesses added.
Union members, students, opposition activists and others,
frustrated with economic hardships, have held near daily
protests since Dec. 19, in the most sustained challenge to
Bashir's three decades in power.
Photos posted online on Tuesday showed people holding
banners marked with "Freedom, justice and peace", "No to
torturing and killing protesters" and other slogans.
Rights groups say at least 45 people have been killed in the
protests since they began on Dec. 19, while the government puts
the death toll at 31.
Bashir has blamed the unrest on unnamed foreign powers and
showed no signs of bowing to demands to quit. But he and some
senior officials have adopted a more conciliatory tone in recent
weeks and promised to free detained protesters.