OMDURMAN, Sudan: Protests this week in Sudan over the rising cost of bread have claimed 22 lives, Sudanese opposition leader Sadiq Al-Mahdi said on Saturday, although officials gave a lower death toll.
A government decision to raise the price of a loaf of bread from one Sudanese pound to three (from about two to six US cents) sparked demonstrations across the country on Wednesday.
The protests first erupted in the eastern city of Atbara before spreading to Al-Qadarif, also in eastern Sudan, and then to the capital Khartoum and twin city Omdurman and other areas.
Two demonstrators were killed in Atbara and six others in Al-Qadarif, officials said on Thursday, as protesters torched offices of the ruling National Congress Party of President Omar Al-Bashir.
But according to Mahdi “22 people were martyred and several others wounded.”
Speaking to reporters in Omdurman, on the west bank of the Nile, Mahdi said the protest movement “is legal and was launched because of the deteriorating situation in Sudan.”
He said that demonstrations will continue to rock Sudan.
Government spokesman Bashar Jumaa on Friday warned that authorities “will not be lenient” with those who set state buildings on fire or cause other damage to public property.
It was Mahdi’s first news conference since he returned to Sudan on Wednesday after almost a year in exile.
A fixture of Sudanese politics since the 1960s, Mahdi was prime minister from 1966 to 1967 and again from 1986 to 1989.
His government was the last one to be democratically elected in Sudan, before it was toppled by a 1989 coup launched by Bashir.
Since then Mahdi’s Umma Party has acted as Sudan’s main opposition group and has regularly campaigned against the policies of Bashir’s government.
Sudan has been facing a mounting economic crisis over the past year.
The cost of some commodities has more than doubled, inflation is running at close to 70 percent and the pound has plunged in value.
Shortages have been reported for the past three weeks across several cities, including Khartoum.
Protests broke out in January over the rising cost of food, but they were soon brought under control with the arrest of opposition leaders and activists.
Also on Saturday, Sudan’s national news agency SUNA reported that Bashir appointed a senior officer from the powerful National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) as governor of Al-Qadarif.
Mubarak Mohammed Shamat will replace Mirghani Saleh who was killed in a helicopter crash on December 9, SUNA said.
Sudan opposition leader says 22 killed in bread protests
Sudan opposition leader says 22 killed in bread protests
- The protests first erupted in the eastern city of Atbara before spreading to Al-Qadarif, also in eastern Sudan, and then to the capital Khartoum
- Government spokesman Bashar Jumaa on Friday warned that authorities “will not be lenient” with those who set state buildings on fire
Protesters to rally in Milan denouncing impact of Winter Games
MILAN: Thousands of people were expected to march through Milan on Saturday in a protest over housing costs and urban affordability on the first full day of the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics
The march, organized by grassroots unions, housing-rights groups and social center community activists, is set to highlight what activists call an increasingly unsustainable city model marked by soaring rents and deepening inequality.
The Olympics cap a decade in which Milan has seen a property boom following the 2015 World Expo, with locals squeezed by soaring living costs as Italy’s tax scheme for wealthy new residents, alongside Brexit, drew professionals to the financial capital.
According to police estimates, more than 3,000 people are expected to join the march.
It will set off at 3 p.m. (1400 GMT) from the Medaglie d’Oro central square and cover nearly four kilometers (2.5 miles) before ending in Milan’s south-eastern quadrant of Corvetto, a historically working-class district.
A rally last weekend by the hard-left in the city of Turin turned violent, with more than 100 police officers injured and nearly 30 protesters arrested, according to an interior ministry tally.
Saturday’s protest follows a series of actions in the run-up to the Games, including rallies on the eve of the opening ceremony that denounced the presence in Italy of US ICE agents and what activists describe as the social and economic burdens of the Olympic project.
Some groups argue that Olympics are a waste of money and resources while housing prices are unaffordable and public meeting places scarce.
The march is taking place under tight security as Milan hosts world leaders, athletes and thousands of visitors for the global sport event, including US Vice President JD Vance.
Political tensions surfaced at the opening ceremony on Friday night where Vance drew jeers in the packed San Siro stadium when an image of him waving the US flag appeared on a big screen.
