Sudanese security forces fired tear gas Sunday as thousands rallied in the capital Khartoum and other cities to keep up pressure on the military after it launched a coup 11 weeks ago.
The October 25 power grab, led by army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, derailed a civilian-military power sharing transition established in the wake of the 2019 ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir.
In the latest of many street protests since, pro-democracy demonstrators Sunday again headed towards the presidential palace in central Khartoum and also rallied in North Khartoum, witnesses said.
“No, no to military rule,” they chanted as they waved the national flag.
Main streets around the capital have been sealed off in a bid to prevent people converging there and at army headquarters, which was the epicentre of the mass demonstrations that forced Bashir out.
Protesters also rallied in Omdurman, Khartoum’s twin city across the Nile, and Wad Madani to the south, witnesses said.
“We will not accept less than a full civilian government,” said 27-year-old protester Ammar Hamed in Khartoum.
The protests since the coup — one of several power grabs in Sudan’s post-independence history — have been met with a deadly crackdown.
At least 61 people have so far been killed.
The latest was a teenager who died Sunday from “live bullet” wounds to the neck sustained during protests on Thursday, according to medics.
Authorities have repeatedly denied using live ammunition in confronting protesters and insist scores of security forces have been wounded during demonstrations that have often “deviated from peacefulness”.
– Medics condemn hospital raids –
Medics in white coats were seen joining Sunday’s rallies to protest the security forces’ storming of hospitals and other medical facilities during previous demonstrations.
The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors, affiliated with the protest movement, said Saturday that medics would deliver a memorandum to UN officials listing “assaults” against such facilities.
Last week, Sudan’s civilian prime minister Abdalla Hamdok resigned saying the country was at a “dangerous crossroads threatening its very survival”.
He had only taken his position back up on November 21, having originally been ousted along with his government in the October coup.
On Saturday, the United Nations said it would soon facilitate talks between key Sudanese stakeholders in a bid to resolve the crisis.
But the Forces for Freedom and Change, the civilian alliance which spearheaded the protests against Bashir and became integral to the transition government, said it had not received “any details” about the UN initiative.
On Sunday, the Sudanese Professionals Association, which was similarly instrumental in the anti-Bashir protests, said it completely “rejected” the UN-facilitated talks.
“The way to resolve the Sudanese crisis begins with the complete overthrow of the putschist military council and the handover of its members to face justice over the killings committed against the defenceless (and) peaceful Sudanese people,” the SPA said in a statement.
Burhan has insisted that the October military takeover “was not a coup” but only meant to “rectify the course of the Sudanese transition”.
The UN Security Council is to meet on Wednesday to discuss the latest developments in Sudan.
