Two people killed on Thursday as Sudan’s protests end the fifth week
January 24, 2019 (KHARTOUM) – Two people were killed and several wounded on Thursday as the Sudanese security forces dispersed demonstrators in what has been described as the largest protest in the capital Khartoum.
With the two victims of Thursday, the death toll has risen to 29 according to the government officials as the rights groups and activists speak about out forty people.
Thousands of Sudanese responded to calls by the Sudanese Professionals Association for nationwide demonstrations demanding the resignation of President Omar al-Bashir. But the police and security forces confronted them with bullets and tear gas.
In a statement on Thursday evening after the end of the protests, Central Committee of Sudan’s Doctors announced the death of Mahjoub al-Taj Mahjoub Ibrahim, a second-year student at the Faculty of Medicine, Al-Razi University, saying that he was killed under torture by security forces and Abdel-Azim Babikir, 22, who was killed by a bullet directly in the chest.
Demonstrations have been held in at least 25 areas in the Sudanese capital and its suburbs demanding President Omar al-Bashir to leave, but the security forces prevented them from reaching the presidential palace as planned.
However, hundreds took to the streets in separate areas, especially Berri in Khartoum and Al-Thorra and the neighbourhoods of Abbasiyah and Banat in Omdurman despite the excessive use of force to break up the protests.
Also, in Thursday’s protests beside the important participation of women in the protests which has become usual now, observers noted the growing participation of elders.
The security and police services continued the excessive use of force and the arbitrary detention of protesters, despite calls by the international community but also pro-government clergy, the Sudan Scholar Corporation (SSC).
Activists who use social media to document the violence of the security forces against peaceful protests posted pictures and videos of a number of demonstrators wounded by live bullets.
In the other states outside Khartoum, crowds of protesters marched to call for President al-Bashir to step down in Kosti, Sennar, Atbara, Port Sudan, Abrey in Northern state and many different towns.
The Sudanese Professional Association issued a statement late during the night expressing the opposition determination to topple down al-Bashir regime peacefully.
The group which coordinate the organisation of the protests said they will issue very soon the programme of the demonstration for next week. Also, they announced that they will form neighbourhoods’ committees to manage the protests during the upcoming period.
As the protests now are in their fifth week, the Sudanese officials say the situation is under control. They add that the government is committed to respecting the freedom of peaceful protests pointing that police and security forces target saboteurs and infiltrators.
For his part, al-Bashir has rejected calls to step down and called on the opposition to prepare for the elections of 2020.
(ST)
