‘Men carrying metal polls’ storm workshop on transitional constitution in Sudan capital

A group of men carrying metal polls, stones and speakers were filmed storming the Sudanese Bar Association’s (SBA) dialogue on the transitional constitutional framework on Wednesday, demanding it be closed down.

According to El Tagheer newspaper, those who stormed the workshop were associates of various right-wing political groups including Omar Al Bashir’s now dissolved National Congress Party.

In a video posted on Twitter, the attackers chanted "Volker out" and other slogans against members of the SBA who were facilitating the third day of talks attended by different political groups in a makeshift tent in Khartoum.

The SBA announced the launch of the dialogue on Monday, which has seen widespread participation from members of The Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). The dialogue consists largely of lectures and has described itself as being inclusive to different political and social forces.

The dialogue’s organizing committee said it had been monitoring calls of incitement against the workshop since Tuesday and had received a demand by lawyers belonging to the former regime calling for it to be stopped, reported El Tagheer. Following the incident, Wednesday's workshop continued.

In a tweet, Volker Perthes, the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Sudan and head of the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS), described the attempted storming as unacceptable.  

Leading member of the FFC, Khaled Omar, also denounced the disruption of the workshop, describing the event as evidence of the weakness, bankruptcy and helplessness of those who oppose the dialogue.

"Our participation in the workshop will continue, and all forms of bullying will not deter us from moving forward to besiege the coup authority and its supporters," said Omar.