Sudanese security forces on Saturday killed at least five demonstrators in a crackdown on anti-coup protests, medics said, after the military tightened its grip by forming a new ruling council.
The pro-democracy protests come nearly three weeks after General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan ousted the government, detained the civilian leadership and declared a state of emergency.
The independent Central Committee for Sudanese Doctors said that five protesters were killed in Saturday’s rallies, two in Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman and three in east Khartoum.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Four were shot dead, while one died from “suffocation by tear gas,” the medics said.
A “large number of people” were also wounded by live rounds, they said, adding that security forces stormed a hospital in Omdurman and detained several of the wounded.
The latest deaths bring to 20 the number of people killed in anti-coup protests since the military takeover on Oct. 25, the medics said.
State television reported that 39 police personnel were “severely wounded” in clashes with protesters.
The police said protesters attacked police stations, adding that the demonstrations “began as peaceful, but quickly veered off course.”
They denied using “live rounds,” saying they used only “minimum force.”
Gunshots were heard and tear gas fired as security forces tried to break up the protests, witnesses and Agence France-Presse correspondents said.
“No, no to military rule,” “civilian [rule] is the people’s choice,” protesters shouted.
The US embassy in Khartoum said it “deeply regrets the loss of life and injuries of dozens of Sudanese citizens demonstrating today for freedom and democracy.”
Qatar-based satellite news network Al-Jazeera yesterday said its bureau chief in Sudan was detained by security forces.
The network wrote on Twitter that Sudanese forces raided the home of Al-Musallami al-Kabbashi.
Al-Jazeera did not elaborate on al-Kabbashi’s detention. Sudanese officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
Tens of thousands rallied nationwide, with protests in provincial cities, including Port Sudan in the east and the Darfur region in the west, witnesses said.
“The military should not have anything to do with politics, they should safeguard the constitution, which Burhan himself has turned against,” protester Ahmed Abdelrahman said.
Any hopes the demonstrators had that the military would back down were dashed on Thursday, when Burhan named himself head of a new ruling Sovereign Council that excludes the country’s main civilian bloc.
The move sparked international condemnation and on Saturday demonstrators shouted: “Down with the entire council.”
Protesters braved a heavy presence of military, police and paramilitary forces in Khartoum, where bridges connecting the capital to neighboring cities were sealed off.
The security forces also blocked roads leading to army headquarters, the site of a 2019 mass sit-in that prompted the generals to oust longtime Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir.
Sudanese Minister of Culture and Information Hamza Baloul, who was briefly detained in the military takeover, took part in Saturday’s protests in Khartoum.
“The Sudanese people have decided to create a civilian nation and there is no will stronger than that of the Sudanese people’s,” he said in a video posted online, urging people to press on with “peaceful demonstrations until the fall” of the coup leaders.
Additional reporting by AP
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