Youth protests in Sudan struggle amid state crackdown
The student activists call themselves Girifna, Arabic for “we are fed up.”
As angry Egyptians stormed into Cairo’s streets, the wave spilled across Egypt’s southern border into Sudan. Loosely organized bands of Sudanese youth are entering their second week of a declared uprising against the strong-arm rule of President Omar al-Bashir’s National Congress Party.
The methods are familiar. Joining groups on Facebook and communicating through text messages, they launched their protests Jan. 30, chanting anti-ruling party slogans and protesting rising food prices. Their stated aim: the fall of al-Bashir’s regime.
Mostly students and unemployed graduates, they arose in pockets across Sudan’s northern capital, Khartoum, and were joined by peers in other towns in the predominantly Arab north. In some cases a few dozen showed up; in other cases, hundreds.