Sudan - Students clash in anti-government demos

Sudan students clash in anti-government demos

30 January, 2011 | Africasia
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Students clashed with police

in the Sudanese capital on

Sunday as youths heeded

calls to take to the streets

for a day of anti-government

protests, despite a heavy

security presence.

The demonstrations, which

coincided with the

announcement of

preliminary results in south Sudan's landmark independence
referendum and a sixth day of angry revolt in neighbouring Egypt,
saw dozens of people arrested and the sacking of Khartoum
University's director.

At the Islamic University of Omdurman, Khartoum's twin city,
around 1,000 demonstrators were confronted by riot police as they
marched along the street shouting slogans criticising President Omar
al-Bashir, an AFP reporter saw.

"Ocampo, what you have said is right!" they chanted, in reference to
the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis
Moreno-Ocampo, who has accused Bashir of genocide and war
crimes in Darfur.

Clashes broke out, with protesters hurling rocks at police who
retaliated with tear gas and batons.

Students belonging to the ruling National Congress Party joined the
police in some of the clashes, a witness said.

The opposition Umma party issued a statement listing the names of
more than 40 people who were arrested in connection with the
protests.

The police spokesman could not immediately be reached for
comment on the reported arrests.

In central Khartoum, near the presidential palace, hundreds of
youths demonstrated, calling for regime change and defying police.

"We want change! No to the high price of goods!" one group
chanted before riot police chased the protesters, arresting at least
five of them.

Nearby, at the medical faculty of Khartoum University, security
officers initially prevented a large group of student demonstrators
from leaving the campus.

The students eventually forced their way out onto the street,
shouting: "Revolution against dictatorship!"

But police and security officers attacked them with batons, arresting
several and forcing the students back inside the university
compound, which was then surrounded by eight police trucks.

The official SUNA news agency later announced in statement that
the president had dismissed the university director, Mustafa Idris al-
Bashir.

Security officials prevented some journalists from covering the
protests, which took place in response to Internet calls for peaceful
anti-government rallies across Sudan, and also came after a week of
popular revolt in Egypt that has shaken the regime of President
Hosni Mubarak.

Soldiers detained an AFP cameraman for two hours, and around 10
journalists working for local and international media were stopped
and ordered not to report on the demonstrations.

"This peaceful procession is organised by the youth of Sudan,"
Mubarak al-Fadl of the opposition Umma party told AFP.

"What we have seen in Egypt has inspired the youth to move, and
they have organised themselves through the Internet.

"They want to show their anger that the affairs in Sudan have led to
the partition of the country and because the future of the north is
uncertain due to the policies of the government," he added.

Fadl said the demonstrations had the support of "all the opposition
parties."

Meanwhile, the first complete preliminary results of the January 9-15
referendum on southern independence, announced on Sunday,
showed close to 99 percent of south Sudanese backing secession.

In contrast to the scenes of jubilation in the south that have
accompanied the vote, widespread economic and political
discontent had provoked sporadic street protests in north Sudan in
recent weeks, with the security forces maintaining tight control in
Khartoum.

Courtesy

The protests were a response to
calls posted on the Internet