Social media users are turning their profile pictures blue to express solidarity with Sudan in the wake of the recent military crackdown in the country that left at least 113 pro-democratic protestors dead in capital Khartoum.
One of the protestors shot in the incident was 26-year-old Mohamed Hashim Mattar, who became a symbol for #BlueforSudan social media campaign. Reportedly, blue was Mattar’s favourite colour and his friends and family had put up this colour on their profiles to honour his death, reported CNN.
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It soon spread across various social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, with stars like Rihanna putting up the colour and using the hashtag to spread awareness about the ongoing situation in Sudan.
“Once he was murdered, his friends and family changed their profile picture to match his, and eventually other people began to join in,” Al Jazeera quoted Mattar’s friend, Shahd Khidir, as saying. “Now [the colour] represents all of the Sudanese people who have fallen in the uprising.”
Violence erupted in Sudan’s capital city of Khartoum on Monday after the military stormed the main camp of the protesters here in a bid to break up the agitation. The demonstrators had demanded that the Transitional Military Council (TMC), which toppled Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir in a coup this April, hand over the government charge to civilians.
In the aftermath of the military crackdown, a ‘civil disobedience’ movement was called by The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) to demand the civilian rule in the country.
In a country where the state tightly monitors traditional media outlets, social media is the last resort of protestors to bring attention to the ongoing situation.