West Darfur NISS releases protesting teachers

Four teachers who were accused of inciting the bread price protests in the West Darfur capital, have been released. Police in White Nile state arrested 34 students of the Kosti Technical School on Tuesday.

Sudanese authorities released four teachers from a total of eight to fifteen teachers who were arrested on charges of inciting demonstrations against the high bread prices in El Geneina, West Darfur, that took place on Sunday.

This week, a Sudanese teachers’ committee had called on all colleagues in the country to unite and publicly reject the 2018 budget of the government.

On Monday and Tuesday, members of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) stormed a number of schools and houses where they arrested between eight and fifteen higher secondary school teachers they accused of the incitement.

Most of them came from Muheldin, Nurel Maaref and Abubakr Nasir schools. In addition, an activist named Musab Abdelmajid was arrested during the protests.

Bread price protests

Last Sunday, El Geneina town witnessed demonstrations against the recent surge of prices of basic goods and the shortage of bread. Riot police fired bullets and tear gas at the crowd, and killed student El Zubeir Ibrahim Sikiran. All schools were closed for a week after the incident.

White Nile students detained

Police in White Nile state arrested 34 students of the Kosti Technical School on Tuesday and held them for several hours before releasing them the same evening. The students had protested against expensive breakfasts.

Police in central Kosti arrested the students against the backdrop of their protest against the increase of prices for breakfasts in places near school.

Lawyer Essam Abdelsalam told Radio Dabanga that the lawyers had to intervene in order for the police to release the students from detention. All arrested students were under the age of 16.

Their detention therefore is a violation of the 2010 Children's Act, according to Abdelsalam, which stipulates that children should be held in the custody of the family and child protection police instead of public jails.