Protesters Take to Sudan's Streets

People take part in a protest against the military rule in Khartoum, Sudan January 30, 2022. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
People take part in a protest against the military rule in Khartoum, Sudan January 30, 2022. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
TT

Protesters Take to Sudan's Streets

People take part in a protest against the military rule in Khartoum, Sudan January 30, 2022. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
People take part in a protest against the military rule in Khartoum, Sudan January 30, 2022. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig

Sudanese demonstrators marched in neighborhoods across the capital and the country on Thursday in protest at October's military coup and a wave of political detentions.

The takeover ended a partnership between the military and civilian political parties, drawing international condemnation and plunging Sudan into political and economic turmoil.

Protests organized by neighborhood resistance committees have drawn hundreds of thousands of people, and at least 79 have been killed and more than 2,000 injured in crackdowns.

Hundreds of protesters on Thursday diverged from planned routes to renew efforts to march on the presidential palace, but were met with tear gas and a heavy security presence a little more than a kilometer from their goal.

"We will continue demonstrating in the streets until we bring down military rule and bring back democracy," Reuters quoted 22-year-old university student Salah Hamid as saying.

Other protests took place across the Nile in the cities of Omdurman and Bahri, and farther away in Gadarif and Sennar.

Sudan's long-standing economic woes have been exacerbated since last month by the blockade of the Northern Artery, a key route for trucks carrying exports from Sudan into Egypt.

That protest, originally against a rise in electricity prices for farmers, has expanded to demand more support for both farmers and traders, and has trapped hundreds of Egyptian trucks in Sudan.

The US Embassy advised Americans on Thursday morning to avoid crowds and demonstrations and to keep a low profile.

While some protesters in Khartoum said they were opposing a normalization of relations with Israel that has been spearheaded by the military, others marched for the more than 2,000 people who lawyers say have been arrested since the coup. More than 100 remain in jail, one lawyer said on Thursday.

Two prominent political critics of the military, Khalid Omer Yousif and Wagdi Salih, were arrested on Wednesday.

Brigadier Altahir Abu Haja, media adviser to military ruler General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, said in a statement on the state news agency SUNA that their arrests were not political and that investigations were continuing.



Crowds Cheer, Families Hug as Palestinian Prisoners Released

Palestinian former inmates of the Ofer military prison are welcomed upon arriving to Ramallah after being released as part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, 25 January 2025. (EPA)
Palestinian former inmates of the Ofer military prison are welcomed upon arriving to Ramallah after being released as part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, 25 January 2025. (EPA)
TT

Crowds Cheer, Families Hug as Palestinian Prisoners Released

Palestinian former inmates of the Ofer military prison are welcomed upon arriving to Ramallah after being released as part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, 25 January 2025. (EPA)
Palestinian former inmates of the Ofer military prison are welcomed upon arriving to Ramallah after being released as part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, 25 January 2025. (EPA)

Azzam al-Shallalta dropped to his knees and wept at his mother's feet as he arrived in the West Bank city of Ramallah with other Palestinian prisoners released under the Gaza ceasefire on Saturday.

A jubilant crowd carried Shallalta on their shoulders from the bus that brought him from jail, the freed prisoner still wearing his grey prison tracksuit.

"My situation was heartbreaking, truly heartbreaking. We pray to God to free all our brothers we've left behind," he told the crowd, his head shaved and his face pale and thin under a long red beard.

"I can't describe the feeling -- just hearing the news that I would be released was overwhelming", he said while shaking hands with well-wishers.

Around him Palestinians cheered and waved the national flag, as they welcomed dozens of prisoners who arrived in buses.

Hundreds waited in the local sports center where the prisoners were dropped off for a short health checkup, while hundreds more watched on from the surrounding hills as fireworks went off.

Israel said it released 200 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday in exchange for four Israeli women soldiers held in Gaza since Hamas's October 2023 attack which sparked the war.

Not all of the prisoners were bused to Ramallah. Sixteen were taken to Gaza, while 70 were sent via Egypt into exile in Algeria, Tunisia or Türkiye.

A total of 121 of the prisoners released had been serving life sentences.

- So 'much love' -

Tareq Yahya, another freed prisoner, spoke with emotion as he stepped off the bus into the crowd.

"It's amazing how much love our people have shown us, how they've stood by us and expressed their solidarity," the 31-year-old from the northern West Bank city of Jenin said.

Looking through the crowd, Yahya searched for relatives, finding none.

"It seems, based on the situation in Jenin, they weren't able to make it," he said, referring to an ongoing Israeli military operation in the city.

"I'll try to find them, though."

Thinking of the other prisoners who will be released in the coming weeks in exchange for Gaza hostages, Yahya said the ceasefire's guarantors "need to set strong conditions to prevent the beatings, humiliation and mistreatment the jailers have inflicted on us in these last days before our release".

Maisa Abu Bakr, 33, came early with her family to see her uncle Yasser Abu Bakr, whose name was on the list of those to be released this week.

She said they avidly followed the news "on Telegram and TV, and we were ready, wearing our (best) clothes, waiting for the time to get out and come here".

Yasser Abu Bakr had been in jail since 2002 serving multiple life sentences.

"When the lists were published, we saw his name and we were surprised because we didn't expect that he would be freed."

- 'Left hoping' -

Others were not so lucky, like the family of Sadiqi al-Zaro, 65, who made the time-consuming journey from the southern West Bank city of Hebron through multiple Israeli checkpoints to Ramallah.

Zaro's nephew Tareq told AFP the family had come after receiving a phone call from an Israeli intelligence officer who said he would be among those released on Saturday.

"We were shocked when the official lists were announced and his name wasn't included," he said.

The procedures for clearing prisoners for release are opaque and the final list was not released until a few hours before the buses arrived.

"There have been a lot of issues since the beginning of this prisoner release process. It's been difficult for families to get clear confirmation," Tareq al-Zaro said, his cousins nodding in agreement.

He said he was still hoping for his uncle's release after 24 years in prison.

"We're leaving this in God's hands. We came here based on a phone call, and God willing, he'll be released based on an official announcement".