Sudan riot enters Day 3

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Khartoum ? Sudan dropped almost completely off the internet on Wednesday as riots over the lifting of fuel subsidies entered their third day and protesters battled security forces in the capital.

Renesys, a company that maps the pathways of the internet, said it could not confirm whether the blackout was government-orchestrated. But the cut recalls a similarly dramatic outage in Egypt, Sudan?s neighbour, when authorities shut off internet access during that country?s 2011 uprising.

?It?s either a government-directed thing or some very catastrophic technological failure that just happens to coincide with violent riots happening in the city,? said senior analyst Doug Madory. He said it was almost a ?total blackout?.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said it was alarmed by the reports of what seemed like an official attempt to stifle coverage, and called on the government to restore the country?s connection.

A police statement said three people have died in three days of rioting over the lifting of fuel subsidies ? two in the town of Wad Medani south of Khartoum, and one in the Omdurman district of the capital. (AP) ? 

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