President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan, seemingly stretching out hand for regional friends amid weeks of protests against his 30-year rule, declared on Thursday he was reopening the border with neighbouring Eritrea, shut for a year.

Witnesses said Sudanese security forces used tear gas to disperse protests in the capital Khartoum and elsewhere on Thursday.

A police spokesman said some “illegal gatherings” were recorded, but the country was generally quiet.

Report has it that dozens of people have been killed in more than six weeks of protests, which began over rising prices and have increased into the most sustained street opposition Bashir has faced in power.

Addressing a crowd of supporters during a visit to the Kassala provincial capital near the border with Eritrea, Bashir said he was reaching out to Eritreans he called “brothers”.

“I announce here, from Kassala, that we are opening the border with Eritrea because they are our brothers and our people. Politics will not divide us,” he added.

Sudan closed the border in early January, 2018, after Bashir announced a six-month state of emergency in the regions of Kassala and North Kurdufan to help combat arms and food trafficking.

Police spokesman General Hashem Ali said that protests were recorded in parts of Khartoum and other states.

“Police records showed no damage to private or public property while there were some injuries among police and demonstrators, due to stones or tear gas, who were evacuated to hospitals for treatment,” Ali said in a statement.