Police fired teargas yesterday to disperse thousands of Sudanese demanding that President Omar Hassan al-Bashir step down, a day after clashes in which rights groups accused security forces of shooting dead at least 50 people.

Bashir, who seized power in a 1989 coup, has been spared the sort of Arab Spring uprising that unseated autocratic rulers from Tunisia to Yemen since 2011, but anger has risen over corruption and rising inflation in the vast African country.

Yesterday more than 5,000 people demonstrated after Muslim prayers in the biggest protests for many years in the Khartoum area.

Angered by a police crackdown on demonstrations against the slashing of fuel subsidies, about 3,000 took to the streets in Khartoum’s twin city Omdurman, across the Nile, shouting “Freedom! Freedom!” and “The people want the fall of the regime!”

Defying a heavy security presence, the crowd marched to the central market, holding up banners saying “No, no to price increases!” Police fired teargas, sending some protesters running for cover.

But most remained, some hurling stones at the police and others torching cars.