KHARTOUM — Hundreds of Sudanese joined anti-government demonstrations in Khartoum Saturday, witnesses and activists said, pushing protests against tough spending cuts into a second week despite a security crackdown. Fueled by unpopular austerity measures, demonstrations spread throughout the capital a day earlier and expanded beyond the core of student activists who have dominated it so far. Activists have sought to use anger over a worsening economic crisis to spark an “Arab Spring"-style uprising against the government of President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir. Security forces have responded by using teargas and batons to break up the demonstrations, which have broken out in a variety of Khartoum's neighborhoods but have not exceeded more than a few hundred people at any one time. On Saturday, the smell of teargas hung in the air and smoke rose from burning tires amid a heavy security presence in the neighborhood of Al-Daim, which had also been the site of protests a day earlier. A Reuters correspondent saw around 300 to 400 demonstrators, but it was difficult to get a precise count because the protesters were dispersed in small groups throughout different streets. The police were not immediately available to comment. In a rare acknowledgement of the protests Friday, the police said they had dispersed “limited" demonstrations that did not exceed 150 people. Sudan avoided the wave of unrest that toppled strongmen in neighboring Egypt and Libya last year, but tough spending cuts announced this week unleashed a spate of demonstrations. — Reuters
