CAIRO (AP) — Activists say thousands are demonstrating in a string of neighborhoods of the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, calling for President Omar Bashir to step down.

They say hundreds also took to the streets Friday in the railway city of Atbara north of Khartoum and Senar in central Sudan. In Atbara, the protesters chanted "the people want to bring down the regime," the main slogan of the Arab Spring revolts of 2010 and 2011.

In the Khartoum suburb of Omdurman, they chanted "freedom, peace and justice."

The protests were the latest in a wave of demonstrations began across much of Sudan on Dec. 19, first against price rises and shortages but which later turned against Bashir, in power since 1989.

The activists spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared reprisals.