Hundreds ride ‘freedom train’ from Atbara to Khartoum

Hundreds of people have ridden on what activists call the ‘freedom train’, from the headquarter of the Sudanese Railways in Atbara, River Nile state, to the capital Khartoum, to swell the sit-in outside the General Command of the Sudanese army, and to provide those already at the sit-in with food and supplies.

It began with a protest outside the railway headquarters in Atbara on Sunday, where demonstrators demanded accountability from all corrupt officials in the company. Atbara was the site of the earliest protests in mid-December 2018, which would grow into the current countrywide mass movement.

On Sunday, the crowd then commandeered a train, which set-off southwards along the line that follows the Nile for 350 kilometres to Khartoum, laden with demonstrators and supplies destined for the thousands of protesters who have maintained a sit-in in the Sudanese capital since April 6.

The train left Atbara at about 8.30 am, and along the route to Khartoum, people waited next to the line to either join it or cheer it on.

As evening approached, the rain reached its objective and those who had travelled with it joined the masses at the sit-in as planned.

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