Sudan: Two protesters killed in crackdown on anti-coup rallies
Sudanese security forces fatally shot two protesters on Monday as they cracked down on thousands marching against last year's military coup and the arrest of several former government officials.
According to the independent Central Committee of Sudan Doctors, one protester was killed after being shot in the neck and chest by security forces while another was killed by a bullet to the left shoulder, elevating the total death toll to 81 since last October's military coup.
The Sudanese police meanwhile said one protestor was killed, while 102 policemen were severely injured, according to the police’s media office on Facebook.
The police did not explain how the protestor died, but said the demonstrations went awry with protesters encroaching on important strategic buildings and institutions, smashing glass windows and buildings' fronts.
Thousands rallied in the capital Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman on Monday, while protests also took place in the eastern city of Port Sudan and in the western Darfur region.
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In the capital, demonstrations began with crowds waving national flags and carrying red balloons, while some protesters shouted slogans demanding the authorities release activists and former government officials who have been arrested in recent weeks.
"We are demanding the release of resistance committee members and politicians who were unjustly arrested, and some of whom are facing fabricated charges," Khaled Mohammed, one of the protesters, told AFP.
On Sunday, Sudan's military authorities arrested Mohammed al-Faki Suliman, a former member of Sudan's ruling Sovereign Council, who was the deputy head of a government-run agency tasked with dismantling the legacy of former autocratic president Omar al-Bashir.
Authorities also arrested two former members of the agency, a security official told the Associated Press.
Suliman was detained in the coup and released a month later as part of a deal between the military and then-prime minister Abdalla Hamdok.
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who in October 2021 derailed a power-sharing transition established in the wake of the overthrow of longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir, appointed Lieutenant-General Yassin Ibrahim Yassin as acting defence minister, a statement by the Transitional Sovereign Council said late on Monday.
'Arbitrary detentions'
Regular mass protests have rocked the country since a 25 October military takeover led by Burhan.
The power grab derailed a fragile power-sharing agreement between the army and civilians that was negotiated after the 2019 removal of Bashir during mass protests.
In addition to the military cracking down on demonstrations, security forces have also arrested a series of former government officials and activists in recent weeks, as military rulers stepped up their campaign against anti-coup groups.
Last week, authorities also rearrested Khalid Omar Youssef, a minister in the ousted transitional government, and Wagdi Saleh, another committee member.
Saleh and Youssef were previously involved in a task force that seized property and fired bureaucrats linked to Bashir's regime.
The detentions have intensified in recent weeks as Sudan plunged into further turmoil, with near-daily street protests since the coup.
"The number of people detained arbitrarily and without criminal charges has exceeded 100," the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) said on Monday.
The SPA, which also calls for anti-coup protests, said the detainees are aged between 16 and 60.
Meanwhile, in Khartoum's Soba prison, detainees launched a hunger strike to protest against prison conditions, the Central Committee of Sudan Doctors said.
"Some have been detained without facing charges, and others still await investigations," the medics said in a statement.
The crackdown by Sudan's military authorities has been condemned by countries including the US, which warned that it would result in "consequences".
Earlier this month, US lawmakers pressed President Joe Biden to impose personal sanctions on the military leaders of the 25 October coup, MEE reported.
"Security forces continue to attack civilians, arrest civil society actors and engage in sexual violence with impunity," Senator Robert Menendez, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said during a hearing.
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