Sudan: 11 killed in clashes between protesters and security

Clashes between Sudanese security forces and protesters holding a large anti-government sit-in outside the military's headquarters in the capital Khartoum killed at least 11 people including six security forces, the government's spokesman said Wednesday.

Information Minister Hassan Ismail, who also serves as the Sudanese government spokesman, did not give further details on the violence a day earlier.

Sudanese security forces tried again to break up the sit-in, which began over the weekend, killing at least 14 people on Tuesday, activists behind the demonstration said, disputing the government's figure.

Attempts by security forces to break up the sit-in have killed at least 22 since Saturday, including five soldiers who protest organizers said were defending the sit-in.

The demonstration is the latest in nearly four months of anti-government protests that have plunged Sudan into its worst crisis in years.

The protests initially erupted last December with demonstrations against a spiraling economy, but quickly escalated into calls for an end to embattled President Omar al-Bashir's 30-year rule.

Sudan's state news agency meanwhile said the country's ruling party will organize a rally Thursday in support of al-Bashir in Khartoum.

A photo of a woman protester in a traditional white Sudanese dress and golden, moon-shaped earrings went viral on social media, instantly becoming a symbol for the role of women in the uprising against the autocratic leader.

The image drew a comparison to America's Statue of Liberty and the ancient Nubian Sudanese queens known as kandaka who live on in Sudanese folklore as women who accomplished and sacrificed for their country.

Her white dress is traditionally worn by professional Sudanese women in the workforce, said Hammour Ziada, a Sudanese novelist.

"The outfit is symbolic of the identity of a working Sudanese woman that's able to do anything and at the same time keep her culture and traditions," he said.

Video circulating online showed the woman, Alaa Salah, singing traditional songs to protesters in the sit-in outside the military's headquarters.

She chanted: "They burned us in the name of religion, killed us in the name of religion, jailed us in the name of religion," while a crowd around her shouted "revolution."