Hundreds of Sudan profs hold sit-in against govt

KHARTOUM, Jan 30 (AFP): About 300 Sudanese professors and lecturers from the University of Khartoum held a sit-in protest on campus on Wednesday against President Omar al-Bashir's government, a spokesman for the group said.

Deadly protests have rocked the east African country since December 19 after a government decision to triple the price of bread.

The protests have spiralled into nationwide rallies calling for an end to the three-decade-old rule of Bashir, who swept to power in 1989 in an Islamist-backed coup.

"More than 300 professors and lecturers of the university held a sit-in today inside the campus," Mamduh al-Hassan, the spokesman told AFP.

He said that 531 university staff members had signed a "Khartoum University Professors' Initiative" listing a series of demands.

"The main demand is that a transitional government be formed in Sudan," Hassan said, echoing the demand of protesters on the streets calling for an end to Bashir's iron-fisted rule.

The University of Khartoum - the oldest university in Sudan - has often taken the lead in anti-government protests in the past.