Roadblocks prevent protest in Sudan’s capital

Police blocked access roads to the office of the Human Rights commission in Khartoum II on Thursday, to prevent a planned demonstration by the Sudanese Committee of Solidarity with the victims of the September 2013. The Committee planned to stage a sit-in protest in front of the Human Rights Commission, and to deliver a memorandum to the Commission regarding the arrests and continuing violations of human rights. These included arrests of leaders of students from the University of Khartoum, the cadres of the Baath Arab Socialist Party, students from Darfur and some other states, as well as the arrest and detention of the leader of the Umma Party, El Sadig El Mahdi. The Chairman of the Committee, Siddig Yousif, told Radio Dabanga of the Committee’s intention to submit a memorandum to the Human Rights Commission including the names of the detainees, the date of their arrest, and details of the ongoing trials of the protesters of the uprising in September. The police blockade prevented the protestors from approaching the Commission’s offices, or handing-over the planned memorandum, so the protest was held at a nearby square. Detainee numbers rise The number of detainees in River Nile State following Tuesdays’s peaceful demonstration demanding the release of El Sadig El Mahdi on Tuesday has risen to 12 party leaders and activists, including six of the leaders of the Umma Party, and three of the Communist, Baath, and Democratic Unionist parties. The members of other parties arrested in the peaceful demonstration in El Damer include Sid Ahmed El Khatib (Secretary of the Communist Party of the River Nile), Abdel Baset Ibrahim Taha (Democratic Unionist Party), and Adil El Sheikh (Chairman of the Baath Party in River Nile State). The detainees of the Umma Party in El Damer includ Osman Abu Al Gasim, Essam Ijail, Hassan Abdel Rahim, Majzoub Al Haj (head of the youth of the National Umma Party), and Mohammad Abdul Hafeez. Those detained in River Nile State on Tuesday include Bashir Osman, Alshair and El Sadiq Saeed El Haj Abdul Wahid.Pictures above and below: Memberes of the Sudanese Committee of Solidarity with the victims of the September 2013 stage a protest in Kartoum close to the offices of the Human Rights Commission. Poolice roadblocks prevented them for approaching the Commission to hand-ove a memorandum. (Radio Dabanga listeners)