Arabiya TV says Sudan office shut down amid protests

Sudan shut down pan-Arab satellite channel Al-Arabiya's office in Khartoum today, the fifth day of mass protests against fuel price hikes, the Dubai-based television network said.
Al-Arabiya said on its website that the closure -- the first such move against a foreign media outlet since the protests began -- came hours after its Khartoum correspondent was summoned for a meeting.
The Sudanese government could not immediately be reached for comment.
The protests over fuel price hikes are the largest of President Omar al-Bashir's 24-year rule, and young activists have used chants made famous during the Arab Spring to call for his downfall.

Rights groups accuse security forces of having gunned down more than 50 people and Internet access across the country was cut today for the second time this week.
Authorities, who have acknowledged 29 deaths since Monday, sought to impose a blackout on the unrest by seizing or blocking publication of three Sudanese newspapers today, journalists said.
The dailier Al-Sudani and Al-Majhar al-Siassi were seized at the printing press, they said, while Al-Watan was ordered not to print after covering the unrest in its yesterday edition.
Al-Arabiya, owned by a Saudi businessman with close ties to the ruling Al-Saud family, is a rival of the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera, with the two Arab news networks often taking opposing views on regional events.