{"id":32280,"date":"2019-02-08T02:23:42","date_gmt":"2019-02-08T02:23:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=32280"},"modified":"2019-02-08T02:23:42","modified_gmt":"2019-02-08T02:23:42","slug":"sudan-protesters-rally-in-support-of-detainees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=32280","title":{"rendered":"Sudan protesters rally in support of detainees"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nKHARTOUM: Crowds of Sudanese protesters rallied on Thursday in downtown Khartoum in support of fellow demonstrators detained in the weeks of rallies against President Omar Al-Bashir\u2019s iron-fisted rule, witnesses said.<\/p>\n

\nThe latest protest came after Al-Bashir acknowledged that Sudan\u2019s controversial public order law and growing economic hardships had angered youths and sent them out into the streets.<\/p>\n

\nThe rally was called to express solidarity with the hundreds of demonstrators who have been arrested since anti-government rallies erupted in December.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe protesters returned to the downtown area, chanting their campaign\u2019s rallying cry of \u201cfreedom, peace, justice,\u201d witnesses said.<\/p>\n

\nFor almost two weeks a security clampdown had prevented them from converging on the capital\u2019s downtown area.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cBring all your soldiers but today you will fall,\u201d chanted the protesters, witnesses said, adding that riot police swiftly confronted them with tear gas.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe authorities thought we won\u2019t be able to reach downtown,\u201d a demonstrator told AFP without giving his name for security reasons.<\/p>\n

\nThe Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) which has led the demonstrations called Thursday\u2019s protests specifically in support of the detainees who it says are being \u201ctortured.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nOn Wednesday, Al-Bashir acknowledged that youths, mainly women, were leading the rallies and said the public order law was \u201cone of the reasons\u201d for their anger.<\/p>\n

\nActivists say the decades-old law targets mainly women, often accusing them of \u201cindecent dressing and immoral behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nHefty punishments including fines and jail terms are imposed on women found guilty under the legislation.<\/p>\n

\nAccording to some Sudanese women\u2019s rights groups, more than 15,000 women were sentenced to flogging in 2016.<\/p>\n

\nAl-Bashir, who swept to power in 1989, said the harsh economic conditions in Sudan, such as high inflation, were also driving the protests.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cIt\u2019s not only the public order law that we are against,\u201d said Tahani, a female protester who asked not to be fully named for security concerns.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cOnce we overthrow the regime, we will change the old laws completely with new laws that respect the dignity and diversity of the Sudanese people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nProtests first erupted on Dec. 19 after a government decision to raise the price of bread.<\/p>\n

\nBut they quickly turned into nationwide rallies against Al-Bashir\u2019s three-decade-old rule, with protesters calling for his resignation.<\/p>\n

\nOfficials say 30 people have died in protest-related violence, while Human Rights Watch says at least 51 people have been killed in clashes with security forces.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KHARTOUM: Crowds of Sudanese protesters rallied on Thursday in downtown Khartoum in support of fellow demonstrators detained in the weeks of rallies against President Omar Al-Bashir\u2019s iron-fisted rule, witnesses said. The latest protest came after Al-Bashir acknowledged that Sudan\u2019s controversial public order law and growing economic hardships had angered youths and sent them out into…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":32281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}