Sudan mass protests dispersed by police violence

On Monday, the campaign of mass protests across Sudan continued, with widespread expressions of public discontent and calls for regime change, and several reports of violent suppression of demonstrations by police and security forces.

In addition to the march organised by the Sudanese Professionals Association in Khartoum, people took to the streets in other protests in Khartoum and the states. Demonstrations continued in the districts of El Sawra in Omdurman and in the area of Kober in Khartoum North calling for Bashir to step down and shout for freedom, peace and justice, and affirm that it is peaceful.

Vigils

In Wad Madani, capital of El Gezira, striking lawyers took to the streets to demonstrate, in addition to similar vigils in Sennar and New Halfa in eastern Sudan and El Obeid, capital of North Kordofan to demand Al Bashir and his regime to step down. The residents of a number of districts of El Obeid demonstrated, which the security services and police confronted with violence and use of live ammunition in the air and tear gas.

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that yesterday the security personnel detained a number of protesters and drove the demonstrators into the districts.

Sennar

Yesterday, the security services in Sennar broke up a peaceful march called by lawyers to hand over a memorandum.

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga from Sennar that the march started from the front of the Red Crescent buildings which was joined by dozens of citizens and doctors to hand over a memorandum to the judiciary demanding to the step down of the regime from power and stop the arbitrary arrests of children and peaceful demonstrators in the city.

They pointed out that the procession moved until the town market where it was confronted by the security services with batons and tear gas and dispersed it before reaching the judicial buildings.

Witnesses said the authorities closed all the town’s fuel stations after the protest.

Yesterday, hundreds of the residents of New Halfa in Kassala staged mass demonstrations and chanted for toppling the regime to which the police responded with tear gas.

New Halfa

Witnesses from New Halfa told Radio Dabanga that the demonstration lasted for half an hour and was attended by hundreds of different sectors.

They said police forces confronted the demonstrators with excessive violence, using tear gas and batons to disperse the demonstrators.

The Sudanese Central Doctors Committee said in an initial report, there were at least eight injuries transferred to hospitals in Khartoum, some of whom sustained bullet wounds during the peaceful march in the Sudanese capital on Monday.

In a statement later on Monday, the committee said that the authority mobilised all its forces from the army, the paramilitary Popular Defence Forces, the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), and “irregular militias”, to block the protests, but did not succeed despite the use of live bullets and tear gas.

The statement said that among the injured were Ahmed Saleh, Mohamed El Fadni, Khalid Mitwalli, who were shot in the head, and Shazly Mohamed who was shot in both his thighs.

Suheil El Garei was hit in the hand by a tear gas canister. Ibrahim Juma, Mukhtar El Shafi, and Hadeel El Safi had to be treated for minor head injuries.

The security forces, deployed in unprecedented intensity in the streets of central Khartoum beat and detained large numbers of people participating in the peaceful march organised by Sudanese Professionals Association on Monday at noon.

NUP head's daughter held

Witnesses and journalists reported to Radio Dabanga that Zeinab El Sadig, daughter of El Sadig El Mahdi, head of the National Umma Party, was held, along with lawyer Manal Khojali, Samia Argawi, Huweida Mursal and Hamam Osman.

The witnesses confirmed the arrest of Bakri Jibril, Mohamed Gurashi, Hatim Khurshid, Igbal Ahmed, Leila Bashar and Mohamed El Hadi, and lawyer Halima Hussein.

Security guards riding in a vehicle held five doctors providing medical and ambulatory assistance to the peaceful demonstrators.