Six dead in price protest in Sudan’s Darfur: government

Six people were killed Tuesday during a protest against high prices in Sudan, a state government official said, in the worst violence since Arab Spring-style demonstrations began more than six weeks ago.

“According to reports we received, six people were killed,” Bothina Mohmed Ahmed, of the South Darfur government, told AFP.

She had no details of how they died, in the state capital Nyala, and added that a number of people were also injured.

A witness earlier told AFP that police had fired tear gas at the demonstrators scattered in groups around Nyala’s main market. He said protesters threw stones at government buildings and burned tyres in the street.

Like other demonstrators in Sudan, they repeated a call made by Arab Spring protesters around the region: “The people want the fall of the regime.”

Four bleeding protesters and three security officers were taken away for medical treatment from the demonstration, the witness said.

Nobody was allowed inside the city’s hospital where a crowd had gathered outside, he added.

Demonstrations in Sudan started on June 16 when University of Khartoum students voiced opposition to high food prices, starting the longest-running public challenge to the 23-year regime of President Omar al-Bashir.

After Bashir announced austerity measures, including tax hikes and an end to cheap fuel, scattered protests spread to include a cross-section of people, often in groups of 100 or 200, around the capital Khartoum and in other parts of Sudan.

Protests have dwindled during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began on July 20.

But a strike by public transport drivers upset over high fuel prices has added to the burden of Nyala residents.

The strike apparently triggered a protest on Monday by more than 200 students, which escalated on Tuesday, the African Union-United Nations peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) told AFP.

“This has been happening on the main roads and in the main market area. There’s been some damage to buildings,” said UNAMID spokesman Christopher Cycmanick.

Ahmed said the demonstration started because students “rejected the price of transport announced by the government”.

She added that “other groups”, whom she did not identify, attacked government property during the protest.

“But now the situation is calm and under control,” Ahmed said.

“We and the security authorities have a plan to secure the town in the coming days.”

Banditry, inter-ethnic fighting and clashes between rebel groups and government forces continue in Darfur although violence is much lower than at its peak in 2003 and 2004 after non-Arab ethnic groups rose up against the Arab-dominated Khartoum government.