Sudan says senior police officer killed during protests

A senior Sudanese police officer was killed Thursday during protests by thousands against a military coup, the police media office said, reporting the first security forces fatality since the takeover.

Ali Bareema Hamad "fell martyr while doing his duties and securing protests" in the capital Khartoum, the police statement said on Facebook.

Sudanese security forces had fired tear gas at thousands of protesters marching on the presidential palace, witnesses said.

The rally, which converged from several parts of Khartoum, came amid tepid support for a United Nations bid to facilitate talks between rival Sudanese factions.

The push was aimed at resolving the crisis since the 25 October military coup led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the resignation of the civilian prime minister Abdalla Hamdok earlier this month.

Demonstrators also took to the streets in the capital's twin city of Omdurman as well as in Port Sudan in eastern Sudan, according to witnesses.

Protesters in Khartoum chanted: "With all our power, we are heading to the palace" as they converged on the city centre.

Others hollered: "Burhan is dirty, brought to (power) by the Islamists," who were dominant under the three-decade rule of general-turned-president Omar al-Bashir, ousted in April 2019 following months of mass protests.

Following the same pattern as in the stream of demonstrations over the past two months, security forces fired volleys of tear gas to disperse the protesters in Khartoum and Omdurman, witnesses said.

Online footage of the protests appeared to show demonstrators hurling stones and unexploded canisters of tear gas at security forces near the presidential palace.

Pro-democracy activists have organised regular demonstrations against the military takeover, which derailed a transition to civilian rule following Bashir's ouster.

The protests have been met by a bloody crackdown that has left at least 63 people dead and hundreds wounded, according to medics.