AFP, KHARTOUM: Police fired tear gas on Saturday at groups of students protesting in a central Sudanese town against soaring bread prices, witnesses said, as opposition parties called for anti-government demonstrations.

Bread prices almost doubled on Friday across Sudan after flour manufacturers raised prices amid dwindling supply of wheat following a government decision to stop importing the grain and allow private companies to do so.

“Citizens, demand your rights,” shouted university students in the central Sudanese town of Sennar as dozens of residents joined them in a sporadic march against the rise in bread prices, witnesses said.

Police fired tear gas to break the protest while shopkeepers closed their shops in the town’s main market, witnesses and residents from Sennar told the news agency by telephone.

“The police fired tear gas at protesters. I had to close my shop as demonstrators approached the market,” a shopkeeper said on condition of anonymity.