Students protest against murder, burn 7 schools in C. Darfur

Seven secondary schools were burned during a violent protest staged by students from Zalingei, Central Darfur, against the murder of their colleague. Eyewitnesses and the Zalingei commissioner told Radio Dabanga that the student Osman Mohammed Abkar was stabbed on Wednesday, because of a quarrel about food. All individuals involved in the incident are secondary school students and most of them are younger than 18 years old, the commissioner Ali Abdelrahman Abu pointed out. The victim was a native of Tololo village and lived at the Alhisahisa displaced camp, where he was buried on Wednesday. The commissioner affirmed he attended the ceremony. According to testimonies, protests against the death of the student “suddenly broke out” on Thursday and the police fired tear gas and shots in the air to disperse the crowd.As a result, two students were reportedly injured and the city’s market and schools were shut down.However, Abu suggested the market re-opened as the protest ceased and he stated that schools had been closed down because they would go through scheduled “maintenance and repairs”. Lastly, sources affirmed that 113 students were arrested during the demonstration. The commissioner denied the claims and asserted that six students were detained.  Radio Dabanga file photo