Deal firmly with protesters, Sudanese police told

KHARTOUM, Sunday

The Sudanese police have been ordered to firmly deal with growing demonstrations in Khartoum against the new package of economic measures, Sudanese Media Center (SMC) reported.

The SMC quoted police spokesman Al-Sir Ahmed saying that “directives have been issued by the Director General of the Police Forces to deal with riots according to the law and at the same time deal firmly, immediately and according to the law with the groups which target properties or utilities or close the roads.”

Fuel subsidies

Various areas in Khartoum on Saturday witnessed demonstrations in which several citizens participated in protests against the removal of fuel subsidies, which led to an increase in the benzene prices of about 50 per cent, together with a rise in the prices of related commodities.

The demonstrations started recently at Khartoum University and extended to other universities in protest against deterioration of the economic conditions.
The annual inflation rate in Sudan jumped from 28.6 per cent in April to 30.4 per cent in May.

Last week, President Omar al-Bashir announced massive economic measures to tackle the country’s economy, including removal of fuel subsidies.