Security forces violently disperse protesters in Khartoum

September 13, 2022 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese security forces used excessive force to prevent anti-coup protesters from reaching the presidential palace on Tuesday. Also, they arrested dozens of youth demonstrators.

The “September Uprising March” was organized by resistance committees, the spearhead of the protests against military rule, in commemoration of the September 2013 demonstrations that the security forces met with extreme brutality, killing dozens of protesters.

A Sudan Tribune journalist reported that the security forces and the police intercepted thousands of demonstrators and violently dispersed them with gas tear gas and batons to prevent them from reaching the presidential palace.

Dozens of demonstrators were arbitrarily arrested, including the leading member of the National Umma Party, Zainab al-Sadiq al-Mahdi, who was later released on bail and taken to a hospital for treatment as she sustained wounds during her arrest.

Eyewitnesses told the Sudan Tribune that armoured vehicles hunted protesters who fled the violent repression in the areas surrounding the Republican Palace.

Rana Abdel Ghaffar, a member of the Emergency Lawyers Association, told Sudan Tribune that 45 protesters, including three young women, had been detained by authorities in northern Khartoum.

Abdel Ghaffar noted that all detainees at the Khartoum East Police station were subjected to urine and blood tests, despite the illegality of these procedures.

The military authorities claim that the protesters were delinquents who drink alcohol and take drugs before the protests.

The lawyers’ group said that joint regular forces in Khartoum arrested transport vehicles on Monday, targeting youth groups.

The security forces performed body searches and looted youth’s belongings, and sometimes cut their hair forcibly to humiliate them.