Protests over the hike in prices and bread subsidy cuts continued in Sudan for the fifth day in a row.
In the Wad Nubawi neighborhood in the city of Omdurman, worshipers and protesters clashed for several hours with security services near al-Sayed Abdulrahman Mosque.
The mosque is one of the strongholds of the Ansar religious sect of the National Umma Party (NUP), which is led by Former Prime Minister al-Sadiq al-Mahdi.
Meanwhile, worshipers at Al-Ansar mosque in Rabak, capital of the White Nile State, also demonstrated along with residents of the Burri neighborhood, eastern Khartoum.
Witnessed told Asharq Al-Awsat that worshipers at al-Sayed Abdulrahman Mosque took part in a protest after Friday prayers, and the police and the security services confronted them with tear gas and batons in an attempt to disperse them.
Imam of the mosque Mohammed al-Hiwar Mohammed, who is the secretary of advocacy and guidance in the Ansar group, condemned the regime’s excessive use of violence against the protesters. He called during his Friday sermon at the mosque for the release of detainees and freedom of peaceful expression for citizens.
He described as a “legitimate duty” the demonstrators’ calls for a change in the “tyrannical” regime.
“Failing to defend the right to freedom and dignity and defending injustice and tyranny will lead to the elimination of nations and erosion of values,” he added.
Al-Sayed Abdulrahman Mosque is one of the strongholds of Mahdi’s Ansar group and the country's largest religious sect, whose followers belong to the NUP, one of Sudan’s main opposition parties.
Earlier this week, Mahdi had called on the Sudanese opposition alliance to join his party and supporters to confront President Omar al-Bashir's regime and to oust him through peaceful means.
