Anti-government protests that have rocked Sudan for weeks have claimed 22 lives, authorities said on Thursday, as rally organisers called for fresh demonstrations.

Angry crowds have staged hundreds of protests against the regime of President Omar al-Bashir after a government decision last month to triple the price of bread.

The updated death toll included three demonstrators who died Wednesday as rival rallies rocked the capital Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman, on the west bank of the Nile.

Protesters chanting “freedom, peace, justice” and “revolution is the people’s choice” marched in Omdurman but they were quickly dispersed by riot police firing tear gas.

Police confirmed that three protesters had died in the Omdurman demonstration but did not specify the cause of death.

“An illegal gathering was held in Omdurman and police dispersed it with tear gas,” police spokesman Hashim Abdelrahim said in a statement.

“Police later received reports that three protesters had died and several (were) injured. We are now investigating.”

That raised the total death toll in protests so far to 22 including two security personnel, according to official figures.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said on Monday that at least 40 people including children had been killed in the unrest, citing Sudanese activists and medical workers.

A doctor told AFP late on Wednesday that six protesters were being treated at Omdurman’s main hospital for gunshot wounds. A group of doctors at the hospital said that police had fired tear gas at the facility.

“There was also shooting inside the hospital,” the group said in a statement, without specifying who had opened fire.