Demonstrators are angered by the rising cost in living provoked by increases in fuel prices.
Protesters continued taking to the streets in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum and other towns for the eighth day on Saturday June 32, 2012 as the police warned that they will be dealt with severely, the Sudan Tribune newspaper reported.
According to news reports, protesters burned tyres, blocked the streets and chanted songs calling for the overthrow of the regime, dropping the anti-austerity slogans of the first days in a move reminiscent of the 2011 Arab Spring revolts. Saturday’s demonstrations were organised by hundreds of protesters in different areas of the capital. Protests were also organised in Kosti in White Nile State, Port Sudan, Gedaref and Al-Obeiyed, capital of North Kordofan.
Opposition sources reported the arrest of Satih Ahmed Al-Haj and Mohamed Dia-Edine of the Bath Party. Sudan's ruling National Congress Party (NCP) appeared confused by the protests because of divisions among the party's leadership over the lifting of oil subsidies.
The State news agency, Suna quoted the country's senior police chief, Gen Hashem Othman al-Hussein as ordering his forces to end the demonstrations firmly and immediately and to take on rioters and the groups behind them.
The protests began on 16 June after the government announced austerity measures. In a televised speech last week, President Omar al-Bashir urged citizens to understand the harsh measures that also saw the slashing the size of the cabinet by half. Sudan has faced soaring inflation since it separated with South Sudan a year ago. The move led to a loss of more than 70 per cent of Sudan's former oil reserves. The country’s Finance Minister, Ali Mahmud has acknowledged that Sudan’s inflation has gone up by 30 per cent in just over a year.
Observers say the authorities in Khartoum are jittery over large-scale street protests. Two Sudanese governments have been overthrown by popular revolutions in the last 50 years. So far, al-Bashir’s government has escaped the unrest characteristic of recent uprisings in Arab countries.
