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A Sudanese protester was killed Wednesday as thousands rallied against last year’s military coup on the anniversary of previous popular uprisings, most recently against autocrat Omar al-Bashir three years ago.
The 19-year-old was hit “by a bullet fired by coup forces” during the crackdown on the demonstrations in eastern Khartoum, the independent Central Committee of Sudan Doctors said.
His death brings to 94 the death toll from the crackdown on anti-coup protests since the October 25 military coup led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the committee said.
Security forces fired tear gas at demonstrators in the capital Khartoum, its twin city of Omdurman, and in Wad Madani to the south, witnesses and AFP correspondents said.
They also “stormed Al-Jawda hospital and fired tear gas inside, scaring patients and health workers and causing suffocation among some of them”, said the doctors committee.
Sudan has been reeling from deepening unrest since its latest coup that has derailed a political transition period and hammered the economy of one of the world’s poorest countries.
Pro-democracy activists had warned online of a people power “earthquake of April 6” — a momentous day in Sudan’s history that was key in bringing down earlier strongmen.
In 1985, the day saw the ouster of president Jaafar Nimeiri following a popular uprising. In 2019 it marked the start of a mass sit-in outside army headquarters, after months of protests, against Bashir’s three decades in power.
“It is an important day… so we expect many to take to the streets despite the heat and Ramadan,” the Muslim holy month when the faithful observe a daytime fast, said one Khartoum protester, Badwi Bashir.
“We just want to bring down the coup (leadership) and end the prospect of any future coups.”
At dusk, volunteers were seen distributing…
Source : france24
