 Hundreds of thousands took to the streets of the Sudanese capital yesterday in a state-sponsored demonstration against UN demands for war crimes suspects, including high officials, to be handed over for trial by the International Criminal Court. Organizers said as many as a million people took part in the rally, the strongest show of defiance by the Khartoum regime so far against Thursday's Security Council resolution demanding prosecution before The Hague-based court of 51 suspects identified by a UN commission of inquiry in January. Protesters directed much of their anger against British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and French and US Presidents Jacques Chirac and George W. Bush, but they also had harsh words for UN chief Kofi Annan. "Death to Bush, death to Blair, death to Chirac," chanted the demonstrators, many of whom traveled in from the provinces for the rally and arrived hours ahead of the start.
| Ummm... Guys? When they're all on different sheets of music, that'll work. When some of them are on different sheets of music, that'll work. On the rare occasions when they're singing sweet harmony, that's not gonna work. |
At the UN building, they called Secretary-General Kofi Annan a coward and an American agent. The state-owned mobile phone company MobiTel had publicized the protest march through a text message sent out to many subscribers on Monday evening. |