Sudan Police Fire Tear Gas at Electricity Protest in Northern Sudan

Sudan police fire tear gas at electricity protest in northern Sudan

May 22, Abri — Sudanese police dispersed hundreds of protesters in Abri, Northern State, with tear gas on Friday, as demonstrations against prolonged power cuts turned confrontational, with reports of arrests and assaults on women and children.

A protester told Sudan Tribune that security forces used tear gas to break up the crowd, including inside residential neighbourhoods and homes. A number of demonstrators were arrested, according to the same source.

The “Abri Today” movement condemned what it described as the “barbaric behaviour” of security and police forces toward peaceful protesters, holding the authorities fully responsible for the safety of those detained and injured. The movement said previous negotiations with the acting local executive director had failed, and dismissed prior government pledges as attempts to “absorb public anger” rather than address the crisis.

Abri and surrounding villages have been suffering severe daily power cuts for extended hours amid rising temperatures and growing public frustration. The movement warned that the closure of the commercial road linking Wadi Halfa to Dongola — which protesters had previously blocked — “was not a random choice but a legitimate weapon,” and threatened to reimpose the blockade on a wider scale if the security crackdown continues and the electricity crisis is not addressed at its roots.

Sudan’s electricity infrastructure has sustained severe damage during the war, with the National Electricity Corporation estimating that some 15,000 transformers were destroyed and approximately 150,000 kilometres of cable looted from Khartoum for their copper content. Total national generation capacity stands at around 3,000 megawatts from a combination of hydroelectric and thermal sources, but war-damaged thermal plants — particularly in Khartoum’s Bahri district — have significantly reduced available supply.