People Changing Their Profile Pictures To Blue In Solidarity With Sudan

Twitter/PA

You may be wondering why social media users and celebrities from around the world are turning their profile pictures to a specific shade of blue.

They’re doing it in an attempt to raise global awareness of the horrific ongoing violence and oppression in Sudan.

According to BuzzFeed News, The Mattar Blue movement was born following the death of 26-year-old London Brunel University graduate, Mohamed Hashim Mattar, who was senselessly killed while protesting in Khartoum, the capital city of Sudan.

The Northeast African country is in the midst of a humanitarian crisis. Since December, the people of Sudan have been protesting to oust Omar al-Bashir, their former dictator president of 30 years, successfully forcing him out in April.

But rather than receiving the democratic freedom they fought so hard to achieve, the regime was instead replaced with military rule – which has led to violent bloodshed and countless deaths, causing global outrage.

The BBC reports that on May 15 a three-year transition agreement was made between military leaders and protestors – as it was believed it would take a long time to dismantle former president Bashir’s legacy in the nation’s political infrastructure.

However, military leaders revoked the agreement on 3rd June, stating new elections would be held in just nine months time. A timeframe which Rosalind Marsden, former British ambassador to Sudan states, argued would ‘simply pave the way for much of the old regime to come back into power’.

On June 3, military forces opened fire on the group of unarmed, non-violent protestors who were holding a sit-in outside military headquarters, killing over 100 protestors – including engineer Mattar – dumping their bodies in the River Nile.

The hashtag #BlueforSudan has been trending across platforms including Twitter, Instagram and Facebook with thousands of users changing their profile photos to the colour, chosen because it was Mattar’s favourite.

The blue shade has now come to represent an unthinkable crisis – with the aim of raising awareness of what’s going on in the country following a public outcry at the lack of international media coverage.

Celebrities including Demi Lovato, Naomi Campbell and Ariana Grande have all shown support for the cause. Demi and Naomi both changing their photos to the blue colour, while Ariana took to her instagram stories encouraging her followers to donate money to the cause.

With the country facing a blackout of almost all telephone and internet services, getting information into and out of Sudan has proven difficult.

But it is believed protesters have reaffirmed demonstrations will not end until the military council gives power to a civilian government.

A GoFundMe page, currently sitting at £266,972 in donations has been set up to raise funds to pay for emergency medical aid in Sudan.

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Lee Bennett