A leading member of the opposition says Sudanese security forces have arrested around two dozen opposition members on Thursday who were on their way to deliver a petition to the presidential palace calling for President Omar al-Bashir to step down.
They were arrested while gathering in downtown Khartoum, getting ready to deliver the petition, which demanded the formation of a new transitional government to replace Bashir and his administration.
Those arrested included Mohamed Mokhtar al-Khatib, the general-secretary of the Communist Party, and three leading members of the Umma Party, said Rabah Sadiq al-Mahdi, daughter of Sadiq al-Mahdi who heads the Umma Party, the largest opposition party and spokesman of the Sudanese Professionals’ Association (SPA), the main protest organizer, was also detained.
This would amount to the largest crackdown against the opposition in one day since protests against Bashir’s rule began two months ago.
