Dozens protest near Khartoum after Friday prayers

Dozens of protesters chanted anti-government slogans as they left Friday prayers at a major mosque near Sudan's capital, a day after a prominent figure in Omar al-Bashir´s party called for him to resign, Reuters reported.

Security forces fired teargas to break up the crowd in Omdurman, as demonstrations against price rises, cash shortages and other economic hardships stretched into their third week.

A group of unions that has organised the protests said one of its leaders, Mohammad Naji al-Assam, was arrested at noon, without giving more details.

"The association condemns arbitrary detentions, which will not stop it from continuing the march with the people for the sake of freedom and change," the Sudanese Association of Professionals said on Twitter.

The protests are the most persistent opposition Bashir has faced since he took power in an Islamist-backed coup nearly 30 years ago.

Bashir and the head of Sudan´s National Intelligence and Security Service have called for restraint in the response to the protests, which government officials have blamed on unnamed infiltrators.

Friday's protesters, mainly young men, chanted "peaceful, peaceful" and "fall, fall," as they called for a change in government outside Al-Sayed Abd al-Rahman al-Mahdi mosque, which has ties to the opposition Umma party.

Their march was much smaller than ones that have broken out in cities across Sudan since Dec. 19. Organizers have urged people to march again toward the presidential palace in Khartoum on Sunday.