Sudan's largest daily newspaper says authorities have forced it to stop printing, the latest publication to stop the press after coming under pressure to depict demonstrators against the longtime autocratic rule of President Omar al-Bashir as "saboteurs."

On Sunday, Al-Intibah's official website said that authorities had ordered the halt indefinitely. It did not elaborate.

The paper, the country's largest in terms of circulation, is owned and run by al-Tayab Mustafa, the president's uncle. The closure comes after a week of Sudan's most extensive demonstrations in years, which began as a protest against fuel price hikes. Nearly half of Sudan's population lives below the poverty line.

More than 50 people have been killed so far in the security forces' crackdown on the marches, which are turning into the heaviest domestic challenge yet faced by al-Bashir. The Sudanese government has so far been spared the sort of anti-authoritarian popular revolts seen around the Arab world in the past two years.

Khartoum governor Abdel-Rahman al-Khidri said the government would start distributing cash to compensate for the fuel prices. The education ministry says schools will remain closed until 20 October.

Though he has kept his grip on the regime, al-Bashir has been increasingly beleaguered. The economy has been worsening, especially after South Sudan broke off and became an independent state in 2011, taking Sudan's main oil-producing territory. Armed secessionist groups operate in several parts of the country. And al-Bashir himself, who came to power as head of a military-Islamist regime after a 1989 coup, is wanted by the international criminal court over alleged crimes in Sudan's western region of Darfur.