[Al Arabiya Latest] Protesters in south Sudan torched offices of the country's ruling National Congress Party after southern leaders were arrested in the capital on Monday, a southern government official said.Offices were set ablaze in Wau and Rumbek, two provincial capitals, the source said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
"The National Congress Party headquarters in both Rumbek and in Wau are on fire," the official said."The protestors are angry at the arrest of the SPLM secretary general and other leaders in Khartoum."
Sudanese police earlier arrested several top figures of the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement during an unauthorized protest outside parliament, including SPLM secretary general Pagan Amum.
Riot police earlier arrested two senior members of south Sudan's main party and their supporters who turned out to demonstrate outside Sudan's parliament in defiance of an official ban, officials said.
Yasser Arman, a senior member of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) scuffled with police outside the National Assembly and was driven away to a police station, officials said.
Officials added that Pagan Amum, the SPLM's Secretary General, had also been arrested.
However, Arman confirmed his arrest to Al Arabiya by phone, denied allegations that he had scuffled with a police officer and said that peaceful rallies will be held all over the country.
Around 25 SPLM and opposition supporters gathered outside the parliament in the early hours of Monday and were surrounded by police armed with batons and shields.
Khartoum announced in a statement the closure of schools on Monday and a day off for public employees to underline the government's "engagement... towards democratic reform" and to aid voter registration.
The SPLM and opposition parties had called the rally outside parliament to demand democratic reforms in a rare challenge to the president. Sudanese authorities announced on Sunday that the rally was banned.
Khartoum police issued a statement late on Sunday saying the planned protest was illegal as the organizers had not applied for permission to hold it but had merely notified the authorities about their intentions.
"The Security Committee of Khartoum state had a meeting today and decided this demonstration is illegal ... Anybody who participates will be questioned," said the statement.
An official in the opposition Umma party, meanwhile, said the ban showed north Sudan's dominant National Congress Party (NCP) was not serious about letting dissenting voices take part in elections, scheduled for April 2010.
The oil-producing country is due to hold its first multi-party polls in 24 years under the terms of a 2005 peace deal that ended more than two decades of civil war between Sudan's north and south and created an SPLM-NCP coalition government.
Monday is the last day Sudanese voters can register for next April's presidential, legislative and regional elections.
Relations between the former foes have remained tense and both have accused each other of failing to implement the deal, which also guarantees the south a referendum on independence in January 2011.
Two million people were killed and 4 million fled their homes between 1983 and 2005 as Sudan's north and south battled over differences of ideology, ethnicity and religion. North Sudan is mostly Muslim while southerners are largely Christian and followers of traditional beliefs.