KHARTOUM —
Sudanese security forces killed a protester Sunday as they cracked down on thousands
marching for civilian rule, medics said, taking the number killed since last
year's military coup to a least 79.
اضافة اعلان
"Blood is the path to freedom,"
protesters waving the Sudanese flag chanted, as they marched through the
streets of Omdurman, which lies across the
Nile River from the capital
Khartoum.
"Go back to the barracks,"
protesters in eastern state of Gedaref shouted at soldiers, witnesses said.
Pro-democracy activists have upped calls for
protests to restore a transition to civilian rule, following the October 25
military takeover led by general Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan.
The coup, one of several in Sudan's
post-independence history, derailed a power-sharing arrangement between the
army and civilians that had been painstakingly negotiated after the 2019 ouster
of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir.
Sunday's demonstrations took place in the
capital
Khartoum, as well as in Omdurman, Gedaref, and the northern cities of
Atbara and Dongola, according to witnesses.
Volleys of tear gas
Sudanese authorities warned protesters
against heading towards Khartoum city center, with security forces sealing off
streets leading to the presidential palace.
But protesters in the capital converged in
large numbers as they headed towards the palace, and police fired volleys of
tear gas canisters when they approached, an AFP correspondent said.
A 27-year-old protester was killed in
Khartoum after suffering a "wound to the chest ... by coup forces,"
the Central Committee of Sudan Doctors said in a statement, adding that it was
not immediately clear what caused the injury.
Several protesters were seen Sunday
suffering breathing difficulties and bleeding from wounds from tear gas
canisters.
At least 79 people have so far been killed
and hundreds wounded in the crackdown on anti-coup demonstrations, according to
the independent group of medics, while authorities have also rounded up
hundreds of pro-democracy activists.
Sudan's authorities have repeatedly denied
using live ammunition against demonstrators, and insist scores of security
personnel have been wounded during the protests.
A police general was stabbed to death during
the unrest earlier this month.
'Not the end'
The
Sudanese Professionals Association, an
umbrella group instrumental in organizing the anti-Bashir protests and latterly
the anti-coup rallies, vowed the demonstrations were "not the end,"
it said in a statement ahead of the latest rally.
"We will not leave the streets until
the fall of the coup regime, achieving a democratic state, and holding to
account all the murderers and those who committed crimes against the
people," the statement added.
The UN, which has recently launched talks
between factions in a bid to resolve the post-coup crisis, has warned the
authorities against using force to stop political protests.
"Peaceful assembly and freedom of
expression are human rights that must be protected," the UN mission in
Sudan said ahead of the protests, urging authorities to allow the
demonstrations "to pass without violence."
The
US State Department's Bureau of African Affairs said Sudan's military leaders had committed to dialogue to resolve the
crisis during a visit this month to Khartoum by senior US diplomats.
"Yet their actions — more violence
against protesters, detention of civil society activists — tell a different
story, and will have consequences," it said.
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