Sudan unions call for protests ahead of Women’s Day

File photo shows women walk to the market in Udier town, in South Sudan on March 7, 2019. (AFP)

• The protest was called by the Sudanese Professionals Association that’s been spearheading the demonstrations

CAIRO: An umbrella of Sudanese independent professional unions has called for more protest ahead of the International Women’s Day to demand the ouster of President Omar Al-Bashir.
The demonstrators on Thursday took to the streets in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere in the country.
Footage posted online shows dozens of people marching, mostly women, and chanting, “Freedom, dignity and justice.”
In some videos, security forces are seen arrested people and beating them in the backs of pick-up trucks.
The protest was called by the Sudanese Professionals Association that’s been spearheading the demonstrations, which erupted in December, initially over surging prices and a failing economy, but quickly turned into calls for Al-Bashir’s resignation.
Activists say hundreds of women have been detained or subjected to violence by security forces.