Sudanese security forces fired tear gas and stun grenades Sunday at thousands of protesters marching against the country’s military rulers, with medics reporting that one demonstrator was killed.
The protesters marched from Omdurman to Bahri, two cities adjoining the capital Khartoum, chanting slogans assailing military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who took power in an Oct. 25 coup that upended a transitional power-sharing deal with civilians.
One man was killed after being hit in the neck by a tear gas canister, according to a Sudanese doctors’ association aligned with the protest movement, although it did not say where the death took place.
That raised the number of civilians killed by security forces to 62 since the coup, according to the doctors, who have also accused the military of repeatedly raiding medical facilities treating injured protesters and attacking staff.
The military has justified the coup as a “correction” needed to stabilize the transition to elections from a power-sharing arrangement the military and civilians struck following the toppling of former President Omar al-Bashir in 2019.
It has said that peaceful protests are permitted and that those responsible for causing casualties will be held accountable.
The United Nations said on Saturday it would attempt to resolve the crisis, inviting military leaders, political parties and other groups to take part in talks.
On January 2, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok resigned, citing a
failure to reach a compromise between the generals and the country’s
pro-democracy movement. He was ousted in the coup but reinstated a month later following a deal with the military that was meant to calm tensions and anti-coup demonstrations.
Source: Voice of America