10 killed in Sudan anti-coup protests

(File photo) General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

Sudanese security forces killed 10 people and wounded dozens yesterday in a crackdown on anti-coup protests, medics said, including seven in northern Khartoum where hundreds of demonstrators were still marching. Most of the casualties were shot “in the head, neck or torso”, said the pro-democracy union of doctors, while the Sudanese Professionals Association, which spearheaded 2019 protests, accused the police of “premeditated killings”. The fatalities in Khartoum raised to 34 the death toll from unrest since the October 25 military takeover, according to the independent Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors. Several rallies broke out across the capital, even though telephone lines were cut and internet services have been disrupted since the power grab. “The people choose civilian rule,” demonstrators chanted, also shouting slogans against Sudan’s ruler, top general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. Demonstrations also erupted in Port Sudan against the coup which halted a democratic transition that followed the 2019 toppling of longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir. Efforts to stem the protests have seen hundreds arrested, including activists, passers-by and journalists. Qatar’s Al Jazeera’s bureau chief was arrested on Sunday and released on Tuesday. The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors has said security forces have also arrested injured people inside Khartoum hospitals. The Sudanese Professionals Association, an umbrella of unions instrumental in the 2019 protests, denounced “immense crimes against humanity” and accused the security forces of “homicide”. One protester in Khartoum said the “repression has been fierce”. “There has been a lot of violence, continuous tear gas and sound grenades,” 42-year-old Soha said adding that she saw one person with gunshot wounds and that there were many arrests. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on a visit to Kenya yesterday urged Africans to watch out for rising threats to democracy. He told Sudan’s military the country stood to regain badly-needed international aid if it restores the “legitimacy” of civilian government. Washington has suspended some $700mn in assistance to Sudan since the coup. “If the military puts this train back on its tracks and does what’s necessary, I think the support that has been very strong from the international community can resume,” said Blinken.