Sudanese journalists: Empty newsstands show success of general strike

Newsstands in Sudan were empty of most of the daily newspapers due to the general strike of workers at the printing presses in response to call of the Alliance for Freedom and Change (AFC).

The Sudanese Journalists Network (SJN) considered the lack of newspapers a great success of the strike, praising the response of journalists, technicians and press workers to the call of the strike.

The SJN confirmed in a statement on Wednesday that the strike was successful on the second day as well.

Yet, the journalists condemned the fierce attacks by the authorities on the media, and warned for the return of suppression of press freedom.

The network strongly condemned threats by the editor-in-chief of El Mijhar newspaper to dismiss journalists and newspaper staff who responded to the strike.

On Wednesday, a military force raided the building of Ramtan News Agency in Khartoum, which works in the field of television broadcasting by producing news and news reports for various satellite channels.

News producer Mutasim Abdelghaffar and photographers Mohamed Younes and Mohamed Salman were detained.

The force confiscated equipment, cameras and computers in addition to papers and documents belonging to the company without giving a reason or details.

The network considered the storming the agency and the detention of its employees “a reflection of the false masks on the faces of the military coup perpetrators, and denounced the use of security rather than political solutions, pointing out that the security apparatus continues to violate human rights in the country.

Bank employees protest

On Wednesday, hundreds of bank employees and staff of oil and telecom companies gathered to protest against the detention of several bank employees on Tuesday, while the general strike has continued for the second day in a row by 100 per cent. Newsstands were empty as presses stood still.

Managers of the Central Bank of Sudan demanded the Transitional Military Council (TMC) to officially apologise for the events of Tuesday, hold those involved in it accountable. They threatened with an open strike if their demands are not met, and declared full readiness for civil disobedience and general strike.

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