Hundreds protest in capital after student shot dead

April 28, 2016 5:58 AM

"Killing of a student, killing of a nation, down down with military rule," the students chanted.

Unidentified gunmen shot dead a Sudanese student on Wednesday during a university campus demonstration and his funeral turned into an anti-government protest involving hundreds of students, eyewitnesses said.

Earlier gunmen in plain clothes had opened fire on around 200 students as they protested against government plans to sell off buildings belonging to the historic Khartoum University, the eyewitnesses said.

They identified the dead student as 20-year-old Mohammed al Sadek. Police could not be immediately reached for comment on the shooting and no other details were immediately available.

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who took power in a 1989 coup, brooks little dissent in Sudan, which has been suffering from an economic crisis since South Sudan seceded in 2011, costing Khartoum more then 70 percent of its oil revenues.

Bashir is wanted by the Hague-based International Criminal Court to face charges of masterminding genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes during Sudan's Darfur conflict. He denies wrongdoing.

Last week Amnesty International called for a thorough and impartial investigation into violent attacks against students after an 18-year-old student was shot dead.