Sudan protests: Tactics used to break through police in Khartoum

Protestors broke through police blocking access to central Khartoum to demand the immediate withdrawal of Al Bashir and his regime from power on Sunday; meanwhile protests sprung up in Wad Madani and Atbara.

According to the Sudanese Professionals Association, which organised the rally, demonstrators planned to gather in four key areas of Khartoum and march towards the Presidential Palace in the early afternoon. However, the security forces had already blocked these sites since the early morning.

Despite the massive security mobilisation, dozens of protesters gathered at the Jackson station for public transport, located downtown, and chanted anti-government slogans.

One group of protesters managed to break through police barricades surrounding central Khartoum using various tactics. They marched from Abu Hamama in the west, through central Khartoum and into Burri in the eastern part of the city, chanting slogans such as “The people want the downfall of the regime”, “Freedom and peace, justice and revolution is the choice of the people” and “You will fall no matter what, we, free revolutionaries, will reach our destination”.

Around 20 lecturers preparing to demonstrate in solidarity with the demands of ongoing protests outside the University of Khartoum were arrested. Dr Siddig Abudafira, a lecturer at the Faculty of Arts, said that the security forces surrounded the University Lecturers Club for more than two hours before arresting a number of them.

Among the people detained are Dr Mohamed El Mustafa, member of the Secretariat of the Sudanese Professionals Association, Prof Mohamed El Amin, and Dr Sarah Omar.

Wad Madani

Thousands also demonstrated on Sunday in Wad Madani, capital of El Gezira state to demand the immediate withdrawal of Al Bashir and his regime from power.

The security forces in Wad Madani used tear gas and batons to disperse the peaceful protesters in the centre of the city, and detained a number of peaceful demonstrators.

Maj Gen Mohamed El Mahdi, police chief of El Gezira, alleged that more than 7,600 policemen were deployed in 65 police stations and 151 police posts, in a package of plans to keep the state safe and secure.

Atbara

In the River Nile state, large crowds demonstrated in Atbara on Sunday. Security forces, supported by army troops in vehicles armed with light weapons, dispersed the peaceful demonstration with tear gas and reportedly detained some activists. As a result, all shops in the market of Atbara were closed.

The demonstrators chanted slogans such as “Peaceful, peaceful against the thieves”.

El Nahud

On Friday and Saturday, residents of El Nahud in West Kordofan expressed their rejection of the regime by graffitiing street walls.

Witnesses from El Nahud told Radio Dabanga that activists wrote slogans such as “Fall down” and “Fall of the military rule” on the walls of the vegetable market and the stadium.

They said that the authorities carried out extensive operations to remove the anti-regime writing on Sunday.