Khartoum: Altaghyeer
Demonstrations erupted in a number of neighborhoods of the Sudanese capital Khartoum Friday evening in protest of the rapid aggravation of living conditions.
Eye witnesses and a number of social media users asserted that gatherings including youth and women protested within their residential neighborhoods as they set fire to car wheels on main streets in Imtidad Nasir, Alshajarah, AlkalaklahAlghubbah,Burri, AldiyumAlsharghiyah and Jabrah.
Media sources reported that security and police officers arrested some of the protesters and took them to detention centers.
In the past few days calls were announced on social media urging people to protest against the government, meanwhile observers point out to the growing possibility of a wider range of demonstrations as the number of those participating is expected to increase with the failure of the government in addressing the economic crisis working as the catalyst.
Sudan suffers a crippling months-long economic crisis that escalated in the past few days resulting in the drop of the Sudanese pound against other hard currencies and the inability of the government to import essential goods.
Eye witnesses reported to “Altaghyeer” on Thursday that most gas stations in Khartoum and other states had to deal with long queues of cars while other stations were out of service.
News circulated among insiders in business centers in Khartoum revealing that a group of companies and traders refrained from dealing and a number of big companies temporarily suspended their production lines after a fast-paced soar in hard currency values as they feared damaging financial losses.
On the other hand, chaos dominated the scene on the black market for hard currency on Thursday as prices changed around the hour and 1 USD exceeded 63 SDG in cash trading reached 74 SDG in check transactions for forward sales.
Inflation reached new heights in November as it stood at 68.93% compared to 68.44% reported in October according to the national statistics bureau last week.
Police sources informed “Altaghyeer” that the response of anti-riot forces was weak when they were ordered to confront demonstrations, adding “response for standby was at 40%, many officers and police personnel rejected the instructions to report and some asked to be excused for different reasons. There is a general sense of discontent due to weak and unavailable wages”.
It is not clear how authorities would manage to counter demonstrations in case they extended in numbers and space in the wake of the refusal to comply with orders by policemen. But the Albashir-led government used to employ armed party militias to confront demonstrators as the case with the massive demonstrations in 2013.And according to reports by regional and international organizations these forces were involved in the killing of more than 200 people, most of whom were youth and students, in 5 days using live ammunition.
