"I was raised to love our home": the Sudanese singer protesters expresses | News from the world

The young woman on a photo that today symbolizes the protest movement in Sudan was identified as Alaa Salah, a 22-year-old architecture student in Khartoum.

Salah told The Guardian that she was happy that the image, taken Monday night at a protest in the Sudanese capital, was seen so widely.

"I am very happy that my picture informs people all over the world of the revolution in Sudan … Since the beginning of the uprising, I go out every day and participate in the demonstrations because my parents raised me to love our house" , Salah said.

The current wave of protests against Omar al-Bashir's 30-year regime began in December but escalated at the weekend when large crowds gathered at a crossroads in front of a heavily guarded military compound in central Khartoum .

Salah said that she did not come from a political background and went down the street to fight for a better Sudan. "Our country is above political parties and sectarian divisions," she said.

"The day they took the picture, I attended 10 different gatherings and read a revolutionary poem. This makes people very enthusiastic. At first, I found a group of about six women and I started singing, and they started singing with me, and then the gathering became really big.

"I practiced presentation at the university; I have no problem speaking in front of people and at large gatherings. "

A line in the poem that she read: "The ball does not kill. What kills, it's people's silence "- is popular among protesters and was chanted by protesters in January 2018 and during unrest in September 2013.

Salah's mother is a fashion designer working with the traditional Sudanese toub – the dress she wore on the photographs – and her father owns a construction company.

The garment became a symbol of the protesters, and Salah said she had narrowly escaped arrest when she had worn the toub during a previous protest.

"The toub has some kind of power and reminds us of the Kandakas," said Salah.

The Kandakas were queens of the Nubian kingdom of Kush, who ruled much of present-day Sudan today, more than 3,000 years ago.

Some commentators have expressed concern that the reference is only one of many ethnic and tribal communities in Sudan, and while Nubian history is particularly popular with the Sudanese diaspora, it excludes many communities in the country.

Salah said that she now had to rest her voice because she had a sore throat singing this week.