Sudanese protest casualties increase, security officer dies
Just days after the UN tried to facilitate talks between rival Sudanese factions, violence took back to the streets, leading to an increase in casualties, including among the security forces.
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Sudanese protesters rush to the aid of a wounded protester after security forces fired tear gas during a rally in the capital Khartoum on December 19, 2021 (AFP)
A Sudanese protestor was killed after he was "shot in the abdomen by the forces of the coup authority," the Sudanese Doctors Committee said Thursday.
The protestor was in Khartoum North participating in demonstrations against the coup that took place in the country in October, as tensions soar in the North African Arab state.
Sudanese security forces used tear gas against anti-coup protestors once again on Thursday near the Khartoum presidential palace.
The fresh demonstrations come just a few days after a UN attempt at facilitating talks between the rival Sudanese factions in a bid to resolve the crisis sparked by the October 25 military coup.
"The massacre has just begun," one Twitter user wrote, posting pictures taken after the police used violence against demonstrators.
🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵🔵
— M7md (@___M7mdA7md) January 13, 2022
🔴الان بدأت المجزرة
🔴المستشفي الدولي
يكتظ بكمية مهولة من الاصابات بالرصاص الحي من قبل قوات الاحتلال
كل الاسر في بحرى عليهم ان يفتحو منازلهم لادخال كل من يأتي عليهم#مليونية_13يناير pic.twitter.com/7MMPwIJkgz
The Sudanese authorities claimed Thursday that anti-coup protesters stabbed to death a police officer.
Brigadier General Ali Bareema Hamad, "fell martyr while performing his duties and securing protests" in the capital Khartoum, a police statement said on Facebook.
Sudanese citizens have been taking to the streets to voice their demands since the coup took place, calling for an end to the military rule. The authorities have been responding with suppression, leading to 64 deaths and hundreds of injuries so far.
The killing of protestors at the hands of the Sudanese armed forces is speculated to have led to the resignation of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.
The former Prime Minister stressed that he made his best efforts to enhance freedoms, lift the country off the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, take Sudan out of international isolation and reintegrate it into the international community.
The pro-civilian rule demonstrators in Sudan, which has mostly been under military rule since its independence in 1955, see that a coup is a means of returning to the rule of former President Omar Al-Bashir.
For more information see: Sudan, a History of Coups
Sudan's Army Chief Lieutenant-General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan had previously said there was no turning back from the measures taken, pledging that the democratic transition would be complete.
