Two People Killed In Anti-Military Protests In Sudan – Doctors Say

KHARTOUM, Sudan,Jan 2 (Reuters) – Security forces killed two people during protests in Sudan on Sunday against military rule, a doctors’ committee said.

This brought to 56 the death toll in protests since a coup on Oct. 25, the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors said. The committee said that the first man was in his twenties and died of injuries to the head in the capital, Khartoum, while the second man died of gunshots to the chest in Omdurman.

Security forces have not yet commented on the deaths.

Sunday was the 12th round of major protests since the coup. Security forces fired tear gas at demonstrators in Khartoum as protesters marched towards the presidential palace, television images showed.

Internet and mobile services appeared to be disrupted in the city ahead of the protests, Reuters witnesses said. Some people managed to post images on social media showing protests in several other cities, including Ad-Damazin, Port Sudan and Sennar.

All bridges directly connecting other towns and cities to Khartoum were also closed, one Reuters witness said.

On recent occasions when communications have been disrupted, sources at telecoms companies have told Reuters that authorities demanded providers cut their services. Officials could not immediately be reached for comment about this on Sunday.

The military took power in an Oct. 25 coup that ended a power-sharing deal with civilian political forces. That deal, agreed in 2019, was supposed to pave the way for a transitional government and eventually elections following the overthrow of long-time leader Omar al-Bashir.

Protests against military rule have continued even after Abdallah Hamdok was reinstated as prime minister last month, with demonstrators demanding that the military play no role in government during a transition to free elections.

Six people died and hundreds were injured in nationwide demonstrations on Thursday.

Al Hadath TV quoted an adviser to military leader Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan on Thursday as saying the military would not allow anyone to pull the country into chaos and that continued protests were a “physical, psychological, and mental drain on the country” and “would not achieve a political solution”.

Sudan’s Sovereign Council, which Burhan leads, on Friday denounced the violence that accompanied Thursday’s protests, adding it had ordered authorities to take all legal and military measures to avoid a recurrence and saying “nobody will go unpunished”.