Two referendum demonstrators detained in Khartoum

The National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) detained two demonstrators in downtown Khartoum after they held a speech against the referendum in Darfur on Tuesday.

The organisator of the anti-referendum campaign 'Not our choice' told Radio Dabanga that Sadiya El Sheikh, studying at Khartoum University, and Ikram Hamsa Nasrelding, studying Law at El Nilein University, were “violently detained” by the NISS in Midan Jackson, a main transport station. 

“The security forces used racial language against them and took their mobile phones and money, before bringing them to the police station in northern Khartoum,” he said.

The women were taken to the police station instead of the NISS office because of the crowd gathering on the street, he explained.

Other demonstrators carried banners, condemning the referendum and describing it as “rigging the will of the Darfuri people” (see video below).

They will continue the campaign and go out peacefully on the streets, the organiser said, in order to make people aware of their reasons to boycott the referendum. The organisation plans to hand over a memorandum to the UN in Khartoum.

Three students were detained by the NISS at El Fasher University during a protest against the referendum, on the first day of the voting. Displaced people in camps in Darfur were able to go out in demonstration without interference from the police, Radio Dabanga reported on Monday.