At least 15 shot dead in anti-coup protests in Sudan

Gulf Today Report

Sudanese security forces fired tear gas Thursday morning at dozens of protesters manning barricades in the capital Khartoum, a witness said.

Police have remained deployed in large numbers in north Khartoum where demonstrators kept up their protests through the night, witnesses said.

Sudanese security forces shot dead at least 15 anti-coup protesters and wounded dozens more on Wednesday, medics said, in the bloodiest day since the military's October 25 takeover.

Protesters burn tyres and chanted: The people are stronger, and retreat is impossible, in Khartoum.

The protesters, marching against an Oct. 25 coup across the capital Khartoum and in the cities of Bahri and Omdurman, demanded a full handover to civilian authorities and for the leaders of the coup to be put on trial.

Security forces fired live rounds and tear gas to prevent gatherings in all three cities, and mobile phone communications were cut, witnesses said. State television said there were injuries among protesters and police.

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The fatalities — all in Khartoum, especially its northern districts — raised to 39 the death toll from unrest since the military seized power, a pro-democracy doctors' union said. Hundreds more have been wounded.

"The day's massacre reinforces our slogans: no negotiations, no partnership, no compromise" with the military, said protest organisers from the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA).

Police have denied using live ammunition and state television announced an investigation into the deaths.

Earlier, on a main road in Khartoum, protesters burned tyres and chanted: "The people are stronger, and retreat is impossible."

Others carried pictures of people killed in previous protests and of Abdalla Hamdok, the civilian prime minister who was put under house arrest during the coup, with the slogan: "Legitimacy comes from the street, not from the cannons."

Images of protests in towns including Port Sudan, Kassala, Dongola, Wad Madani and Geneina were posted on social media.

Demonstrators had taken to the streets across the capital even though telephone lines and internet services had been disrupted since the military took over, AFP journalists reported.

"The people choose civilian rule," demonstrators chanted, also shouting slogans against Sudan's ruler, top general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

The demonstrators, mostly young men and women, clapped hands and ululated before the scene turned violent.

Images of protests in towns including Port Sudan, Kassala and Dongola were posted on social media.

As clashes broke out, the security forces also fired tear gas, injuring several more protesters, witnesses said.

Police have denied using live ammunition and state television announced an investigation into the deaths.

The doctors' committee and other unions said in a statement that security forces had tried to raid one hospital in Omdurman and were surrounding another, releasing tear gas and blocking patients' access. The same was witnessed at hospitals in Bahri, said a demonstrator.

Wednesday's deaths brought the committee's death toll since the coup to 39 people.

"Military commanders will be held accountable for these abuses," said the UN special rapporteur on Freedom of Association and Peaceful, Assembly Clement Voule, in a tweet.