About 1,000 people were detained and hundreds injured – many by tear gas – during anti-regime protests last Friday in Sudan, an activist group said on the anniversary of President Omar al-Bashir’s coup yesterday.
One of those detained is Sudanese journalist Talal Saad, who had brought some freelance photos of the protests to the AFP bureau in Khartoum
The Information Minister called the protesters “rioters” who threaten the country’s stability.
“Some were arrested and released,” said an official from the Organisation for Defence of Rights and Freedoms.
The organisation’s figures indicate a dramatic rise in the number of arrests on Friday, the 14th day of anti-regime demonstrations sparked by inflation.
“The figure of those arrested before yesterday (Friday) was about 1,000 in the whole country,” said the official, who asked not to be identified because of the tense situation.
Many are still being held in prisons or “ghost houses”, the location of which is unknown, he alleged.
“They don’t tell you where they are. You are not even allowed to ask,” he said.
One of those detained is Sudanese journalist Talal Saad, who had brought some freelance photos of the protests to the AFP bureau in Khartoum last Friday.
Armed national security agents raided the bureau, ordered AFP’s correspondent to delete the photos and took Saad away.
He has been unreachable for about 21 hours.
Police said in a statement that “some of the rioters” were arrested and would be brought to trial after “small groups” demonstrated in Khartoum and elsewhere.
Police contained the situation “with a minimum use of force,” they said.
The Organisation for Defence of Rights and Freedoms said “a few hundred” people were injured during the Friday protests.
Many elderly people were affected by tear gas, but other injuries came from rubber bullets, tear gas canisters or beatings, the Rights and Freedoms official said.
Information Minister Ghazi Al-Sadiq issued an appeal for people “not to allow the rioters to undermine security and stability of the Sudan”.
In a statement on the official SUNA news agency, he said Sudanese have the right to peaceful expression without resorting to violence “to allow the enemies to exploit these protests to carry out foreign agendas against the country”.
Activists had called for a major day of protest last Friday.
In one key disturbance, witnesses said police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse hundreds of peaceful protesters who had gathered in Hijra Square beside the mosque of the opposition Umma party in Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman.
One witness said demonstrators carried Sudanese flags and banners reading, “The people want the regime to fall”, a slogan used by protesters during the Arab Spring uprisings against regional strongmen over the past year.
They burned tyres and threw stones at police before running for cover, the witness said.
Similar running battles between protesters and police took place elsewhere in Khartoum, the witness added.
International criticism of Sudan’s crackdown increased last Friday with Canada’s top diplomat expressing concern.
“We condemn the arrests of bloggers, journalists and political activists that have taken place over the past week and call for their immediate release,” Foreign Minister John Baird said.