Three women hurt, 26 arrested in Sudan demonstration

KHARTOUM, Sudan (Reuters) -- Three women were injured and 26 arrested when police used tear gas and batons to break up a demonstration in Khartoum against a decree banning women from working in many public places, a human rights lawyer said.

Dozens of women, representing women groups and civil societies, had been holding a peaceful protest on Monday when they were attacked by police, lawyer Ghazi Suleiman said.

They had intended to march to the council of ministers to present a petition against the decree, issued last Sunday by the governor of Khartoum state.

"The police attacked the women with tear gas and batons, just five minutes after the protest started," Suleiman, who heads the National Coalition for the Restoration of Democracy, said.

He said the 26 women who were arrested were released after his intervention. They spent over two hours at the police station. Some of the demonstrators had blocked traffic.

The decree bans women from working in a host of public places such as restaurants, hotels, cafeterias and petrol stations.

Many women in Sudan have condemned the decree, arguing that it violates their constitutional rights and renders them unemployed at a time when it is difficult to get a job.

The constitutional court on Saturday suspended the implementation of the decree after petitions were filed by a several women and human rights groups.

The court imposed a news blackout on Monday on the decision it issued suspending the governor's decree, the official Sudan News Agency, SUNA, said.

SUNA quoted a statement by the court as saying that any commentary on the decision could affect the cause of justice.

It pointed that any person or newspaper which does not heed the warning could face legal action.

The governor of Khartoum state had been quoted in some newspapers in Khartoum that he would not abide by the constitutional court's decision to suspend his decree. He later said he had not been quoted correctly.

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