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Sudan police fire tear gas at protesters in Kassala: Witnesses
[Al Jazeera] Police in Sudan has fired tear gas at anti-government protesters in the eastern city of Kassala, according to eyewitnesses, as one of the biggest protests against President Omar al-Bashir Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to ArabizeDarfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. 's three-decade rule entered its fourth week. It was the first time protesters erupted into the streets in Kassala, located near Sudan's border with Eritrea ...is run by the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), with about the amounts of democracy and justice you'd expect from a party with that name. National elections have been periodically scheduled and cancelled; none have ever been held in the country. The president, Isaias Afewerki, has been in office since independence in 1993 and will probably die there of old age... , since massive anti-government demonstrations started in December in which at least 24 people have died. Eyewitnesses told AFP news agency that protesters shouting "freedom, justice and peace" were confronted by coppers who fired tear gas at them. Shortly before the anti-government crowd erupted into the streets, followers of President al-Bashir held the first pro-government rally on January 7 in Kassala, which was followed days later by another in the capital, Khartoum. Since December 19, Sudan has seen several large-scale protests in most major cities and towns. Demonstrations initially erupted in the northeastern town of Atbara after the government raised the price of bread, but then quickly flared to other regions before spreading to Khartoum. Posted by: Fred 2019-01-17 |
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