Police in Sudan have arrested at least 60 journalists as they attempted to protest media censorship in front of parliament.

Witnesses say the journalists, including many editors from prominent newspapers, were taken to a police station Monday in Omdurman, a suburb of the capital, Khartoum. 

Police did not immediately comment, but a leading member of Sudan's former southern rebels condemned the arrests. 

Yasir Arman of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement said the arrests are a clear violation of the constitution and the three-year-old peace deal that ended Sudan's north-south civil war.

The landmark 2005 peace deal guarantees freedom of the press in Sudan.  However, editors complain the government has increasingly imposed a variety of restrictions, seizing entire newspaper editions and censoring certain articles.  

In September, two Sudanese newspapers were shut down by the Khartoum-based government. 

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.