Sudanese Islamists hold demo against Syrian regime

October 29, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese authorities on Friday allowed an Islamist-backed protest against the Syrian government and its continued crackdown on protestors to take place despite Khartoum’s official support for Damascus.

Nearly three hundred Islamists poured into central Khartoum following Friday’s prayer and demonstrated against the brutality with which Syrian protestors are being repressed, calling for an end to the crackdown launched by President Bashar Al-Assad.

Continued crackdown on protestors left at least 37 Syrians dead on Friday, in one of the highest death toll in months, as the Arab League today sent an ‘urgent letter’ to Damascus protesting ‘the continued killing of civilians.’

More than 3,000 people have died in Syria since its government responded with an overwhelming military force to the protests which erupted in March against the four-decade rule of Al-Assad family.

Sudanese police surrounded the Islamist protestors who were chanting slogans berating President Al-Assad.

Sudan appears to be tolerating anti-Assad sentiments recently, despite the fact that Khartoum is a supporter and ally of the Syrian government.

The Sudanese government has to this date failed to condemn the crackdown on protestors and continues to frame the events in Syria as a ‘Western and Zionist plot’ to undermine Damascus.

The League of Sudanese Scholars (LSS), a body of state-controlled Imams and clerics, on Thursday issued a statement denouncing the brutality shown by Syrian forces towards protestors. The move marked a departure from the government’s line which the LSS normally toes.

The fact that Sudan has started allowing anti-Assad sentiments to find expression despite its zero-tolerance of dissent could be the precursor of a shift in Khartoum’s position towards Damascus.

Meanwhile, analysts say that growing anti-Assad sentiments within Sudanese Islamists, who ascribe to Sunni Islam, can be explained by the fact that the Syrian president belongs to Alawis religious group which is a branch of Sunni Islam.

(ST)