Windsor rallies to support anti-government protesters in Sudan

About 25 protestersgathered in front of Windsorcity hall on Friday to showsupportfor anti-government protesters in Sudan.

An increasing cost of living and shortages of food and fuel in the northeastern African nation has sparked violent protests across Sudan over the past week.

According to Amnesty International, policehave responded with violence in some parts of the country, killing at least nine people, including five students.

Earlier this week, Edmonton and Toronto held similar rallies, where people expressed their desire to see Sudan's president of almost three decades, Omar al-Bashir, step down.

During Windsor's rally Friday, the most common chant heard in front of city hall was "al-Bashirto ICC."

In 2009 and 2010, the International Criminal Court issued a warrant foral-Bashir'sarrest for various crimes including committing genocide, crimes against humanity, and forcible transfer, torture and rape.

"What's happening to Sudan is beyond imaginable injustice and violence against civilians who went out to protest against the political regime that has been sitting there without any choice of the people for more than 30 years," said Duha Elzubair, a member of Windsor's Sudanese community.

"My people in Sudan went out to say, 'enough is enough.' They had been shut down, killed, tortured and detained without trials."

MuddathirMohamed, another member of Windsor's Sudanese community, was also in the crowd Friday.

"They detain people. They kill people. They are ruling by power," said Mohamed. "If you speak against them, you will be detained. You will be killed."

He said the goal of the rally was to seek support from "international communities" to put pressure on the Sudanese government to "stop shooting people."

In an address on Tuesday, al-Bashirblamed the country's economic woes on international sanctions and enemies of Sudan who don't want it to progress.