Police, protesters clash in Khartoum

KHARTOUM, Sudan, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Police cordoned off Parliament in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum Monday after anti-government demonstrators rioted, witnesses say.

Thousands of police officers flooded the area around Parliament as opposition demonstrators protested what they called government moves to curtail civil liberties and demanded that a planned referendum on the future of Darfur province be speeded up, the Kuwait News Agency reported.

KUNA said two members of the opposition Sudan's Peoples Liberation Movement as well as the Interior Ministry's Minister of State, Abbas Jumaa, were arrested as police closed all roads leading to the Parliament building and shut down all of the capital's schools and government institutions.

The Sudanese government banned the demonstration Sunday night, warning that protesters would be considered law-breakers, while opposition leaders told the ruling National Congress Party that similar protests would be staged in the future, KUNA reported.

Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir reportedly met Sunday with opposition leaders to discuss plans for the country's first general elections in 24 years, set for April.