Day: October 31, 2021

Mass protests took place yesterday, October 30, after resistance committees and activist networks had called for another Marches of the Millions. Hundreds of protesters were wounded and several were killed as security forces used heavy fire, according to witnesses.

Members of Resistance Committees had called for an October 30 Marches of the Millions on Saturday against the military with marches and banners – defying the military coup and the detention campaign of the armed forces against activists and political figured.

Eyewitnesses explained that military forces fired heavily in Khartoum, Omdurman, and East Nile, causing deaths and injuries among protesters.

According to the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors, the number of victims of the demonstrations against the military coup has risen to at least 12 dead and hundreds wounded since the coup took place on Monday, October 25, at dawn. Others estimate the number of deaths to be higher.

The doctor’s committee published a report today, revealing the death of Kamal Abdel Nasser (22 years old) after being shot in the head on the morning of October 25. 11 deaths were already reported by Radio Dabanga on Friday.

The committee also indicated that three protesters were killed during yesterday’s October 30 mass civil disobedience processions in Omdurman. Two of them died in Omdurman Hospital and another in El Arbaeen Hospital. All of them were shot directly by security forces.

Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that Omdurman witnesses a large Rapid Support Forces (RSF) presence and that several civilians were shot by the forces, including one killing in a hospital. They estimate the total number of deaths to be higher.

The doctor’s committee noted that the total number of injured in the October 30 processions in Khartoum, El Gedaref, and Kassala reached 165, including eight serious injuries in Omdurman Hospital. At least 47 of those wounded were shot with live ammunition.

East Nile Hospital also recorded 105 injuries, including six critical injuries resulting from bullet wounds. In Gedaref, eight demonstrators were injured.

Today, Khartoum state witnessed a cautious calm after the massive October 30 processions that filled the roads. Citizens told Radio Dabanga that most of the main roads in Khartoum’s neighbourhoods are still barricaded and they explained that protesters are rushing to rebuild the barricades that were removed by the military forces.

Telephone links only work sporadically and the internet is cut off in many places. Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that food is becoming more expensive and that bread has become scarce

More protests are expected in the next few days.

Source: Radio Dabanga

The United Nations discussed possible steps forward with ousted Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok Sunday, a day after hundreds of thousands of people marched in protest of last week’s military coup.

Volker Perthes, the U.N. special representative to Sudan, said that Hamdok is doing well but remains under house arrest in his residence.

Protesters remained in the streets Sunday, many of them manning barricades and blocking roads after large demonstrations on Saturday turned deadly.

Three people were shot dead by security forces in Khartoum’s sister city of Omdurman Saturday, bringing the number of civilians killed since last Monday’s coup to 14.

Despite some protests and roadblocks, Khartoum returned to relative quiet as strikes in various sectors continued in defiance of General Abdel-Fattah Burhan’s seizure of power and declaration of a state of emergency.

The October 25 move dissolved a transitional government established in August 2019, after months of deadly protests following the ouster of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir.

Since then, the U.N. and United States have frozen aid to Sudan – a move likely to have a devastating impact on the country which is already suffering an economic crisis.

International condemnation of the military takeover and demands to restore the transitional government echo the calls of hundreds of thousands of protesters in Sudan.

Images and video footage from Khartoum and other cities Saturday showed crowds carrying Sudanese flags and banners denouncing the military government. Chants and songs that were sung in 2019 when protesters demanded al-Bashir’s ouster have been revived in the latest demonstrations.

Protests took place around the world as well, with thousands of Sudanese from across the United States marching through Washington Saturday.

The military takeover occurred after weeks of escalating tensions involving military and civilian leaders over Sudan’s transition to democracy.

But even after the landmark power-sharing agreement in 2019, in which Hamdok was named the country’s leader, protests continued. Demonstrators, who often used the word “Medaniya,” or civilian, to call for a civilian government, opposed any military control in the transitional government.

Burhan said Tuesday the army’s overthrow of the transitional government was necessary to avoid a civil war.

Source: Voice of America