About 100 members of the Sudanese community rallied in Sydney's Belmore Park on October 3 to protest against the military regime's crackdown on human rights in their home country. Speakers condemned the repression last month by the regime of President Omar Al-Bashir against crowds protesting sharp rises in fuel prices.
At the rally, representatives of the community distributed a call for support. The statement read in part: "Twenty-four years ago our Sudanese nation was grievously assaulted. When the Islamic Front via a coup d'etat grasped power in Sudan, it threw members of the democratically elected government into prison ...
"As a consequence of a war conducted against those who differ ethnically, religiously, or politically from the regime, a Sudanese diaspora of over 2 million has dispersed throughout the world, assisted by United Nations resettlement programs ...
"On September 23, the Sudanese people took to the streets in massive rallies to protest against the latest increase in fuel prices. The regime answered with bullets. Around 300 protesters aged 12 to 25 years of age were killed over a period of six days. Thousands of civilians, students and children as young as 15 years old have been arrested and detained ...
"We call upon the Australian people and Australian government, through the United Nations and the Security Council, to uphold the human rights of the Sudanese people and to stand firm against the ongoing massacres of its civilians and violations of the human rights of all Sudanese people."