Demonstrations continue in Sudan’s capital – Sadig El Mahdi asks Bashir to leave

For the ninth consecutive day, demonstrations continued in Khartoum state, but on a smaller scale than last week. In the city of Khartoum protesters took to the streets in the morning and in Omdurman during the whole day. In Omdurman students of El Ahfad University for Women staged a demonstration for the second day, demanding freedom and the overthrow of the regime. According to witnesses, the police were heavy handed in their response to the students, who were chanting slogans like “We are not afraid of tear gas, Sudan, we are your daughters!” Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that police forces cordoned-off the university in the morning. When the students wanted to leave the university premises, the police entered campus using tear gas and batons. At the University of Khartoum students of the Faculty of Medicine, located in Khartoum, and the Faculty of Agriculture in Shambat, Khartoum North again demonstrated demanding the fall of the regime. Sources reported that the police faced the peaceful demonstrations with “excessive violence” using sticks and tear gas. Sources in Omdurman reported about demonstrations by women in the neighbourhoods of Banat and El Abbasia demanding for the downfall of the regime. National Umma Party The president of the National Umma Party, Imam Sadiq El Mahdi, has requested President Omar Al Bashir to stand down, “in order to enable the establishment of a new political system in the country, free from tyranny”. The imam added that “things can only calm down after the causes have been removed. This means the departure of the regime and the establishment of a new system free of tyranny. Al Bashir has lost his legitimacy because of his repressive policies.” The editor-in-chief of the digital TTU weekly periodical on strategic news in the Arab world, Rashid Saeed, commented in an interview with Radio Dabanga, on the Sudanese uprising: “It has entered a new phase. The protests which began as a spontaneous reaction to the price increases, have now turned into an organised movement in which political parties, civil society organisations, and syndicates in various forms are cooperating.” Network of Journalists The Sudanese Network of Journalists decided on Monday to go on strike again on Tuesday, for a period of two days. They will resume their work again on Thursday, in order not to be dismissed. The Labour Law of Sudan states that employees who are absent from work for three consecutive days without valid reasons, can be dismissed. The Network commended the steadfastness of the journalists in their strikes, defending the honour of their profession. A journalist of the Network told Radio Dabanga that the Sudanese newspapers still face treatment of the worst kind by the authorities and security forces.The Network of Journalists, in a statement yesterday, reported about the arrest of Mohamed Ali Mohamed, working for the newspaper El Akhbar, when he left the newspaper office on Monday. On the same day, Sami El Shinawi, a reporter for Dubai channel, was arrested while he was covering a protest of pharmacists in front of the Medical Board. Journalists Amal Habbani and Aqil Ahmed Naim were released on Sunday.El Fasher The residents in the refugee camps and the camps for the displaced are appealing to the people of Sudan to continue their demonstrations. Omda Atem, a member of the Association of Displaced Persons and Refugees of Darfur and coordinator of the North Darfur camps for the displaced, told Radio Dabanga that Darfuri refugees and displaced appealed to the people of Sudan to continue their demonstrations “until the current regime is overthrown, since the regime is the main reason for the killings and displacement in the region.” He added that the Sudanese people have suffered from murder and injustice too and appealed to the UN Security Council to perform its duty to protect the peaceful demonstrators in Sudan.  File photo