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March 7, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese opposition groups affirmed their intention to demonstrate on Wednesday despite a warning from police that they will be conducting an unlawful act that will be dealt with in that manner.
The purpose of the planned demonstration according to the opposition is to protest "massacres" against the Libyan people by the government there and also voice support to recent uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia that toppled its regimes that were in power for decades.
The so-called Jasmine Revolution started in Tunisia in January when the rural poor took to the streets to protest against high unemployment, rising prices and corrupt rule. It swept the Arab world into North Africa over a matter of weeks.
The legal affairs official in the opposition alliance Kamal Omer, from the Popular Congress Party (PCP), said that they only notified the authorities about their intentions stressing that they need no permission to practice their right under the constitution.
The protest will take place at 1 p.m. at Abu-Janzeer square in the Sudanese capital and is scheduled to be addressed by leader of the Umma Party Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi.
The police chief in Khartoum State, General Mohammad Hafiz Hassan Attiya, said at a press conference that he does not recognize the opposition’s reasoning adding that the law requires permission and not notification in order to organize a protest.
Attiya said that the opposition appears to be seeking "to take law into their own hands" describing this as unacceptable.
He further said that demonstrating without permission, would infringe on the freedom of citizens and will pose threats to their lives and belongings through blocking roads allowing people with "special agendas" to infiltrate and cause damage.
Hundreds of opposition supporters convened today at the headquarters of the Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) chanting anti-government slogans calling for toppling the regime as police cars and anti-riot police surrounded the area.
The head of the opposition alliance forces Farouk Abu Essa addressing the crowd said that dialogue with the National Congress Party (NCP) has reached a "dead end" describing the ruling party as "blind, deaf and dumb" saying the only route left is removing the regime led by president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir since 1989.
Abu Essa called for resolving the Darfur crisis and bringing perpetrators of crimes there to justice. He warned the government against harming opposition leaders saying that "whoever throws water at us we will throw blood at them".
Numerous groups created on social networking sites such as Facebook by Sudanese youths have been seeking to mobilize and coordinate for staging demonstrations demanding change in a manner similar to that of Tunisia and Egypt.
An attempt was made on January 30th failed to garner enough support and its participants were quickly rounded up and detained.
(ST)
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