Pro- Bashir rally as Sudan says 800 protesters arrested

KHARTOUM - More than 800 protesters have been arrested in anti-government demonstrations held across Sudan since last month, a minister said on Monday, as hundreds gathered at a rally backing President Omar al- Bashir.

Deadly protests have rocked Sudan since December 19, when unrest first broke out over a government decision to raise the price of bread.

Authorities say at least 19 people including two security personnel have been killed in clashes during the demonstrations, but rights group Amnesty International has put the death toll at 37.

Interior Minister Ahmed Bilal Osman on Monday gave details to parliament of arrests made during the protests and violence that marked several rallies.

The figure was the first given by officials for those detained since the rallies erupted initially in towns and villages and later Crowds of supporters of the Sudanese President wave sticks as they gather in Sudan’s easten city of Kassala. spread to the capital Khartoum.

Osman told lawmakers that 118 buildings were destroyed in the protests, including 18 that belonged to police, while

194 vehicles were set on fire including 15 that belonged to international organisations.

Protests broke out when the government raised the price of a small loaf of bread from one Sudanese pound to three (from two to six US cents).

Sudanese authorities have launched a crackdown on opposition leaders, activists and journalists to prevent the spread of protests.

Most anti-government rallies have been spearheaded by professionals like doctors, teachers and engineers, but they have been swiftly broken up by riot police firing tear gas at protesters.

On Monday, crowds of protesters gathered in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan but they were quickly dispersed by riot police, witnesses said.

As the anti-government unrest rumbled on, the first rally backing Bashir was held in the eastern city of Kassala.

Hundreds of people from Kassala and neighbouring towns and villages gathered in front of the local governorate to express their support for Bashir.

Bashir’s supporters also took to social networks Twitter and Facebook to back the rally in Kassala.

Bashir has dominated Sudan for three decades since coming to power in a coup backed by Islamists in 1989.