ANSD : Sudan police shoot live fire outside home of dead protester: witness

FRI 26 - 4 - 2024

Date: Jan 18, 2019
Source: The Daily Star

Sudan police shoot live fire outside home of dead protester: witness

_Reuters
KHARTOUM: Sudanese police shot live ammunition as mourners gathered outside the home of a 60-year-old protester who died early Friday from a gunshot wound sustained during anti-government demonstrations, a Reuters witness said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Two to three thousand mourners had gathered in Khartoum's Burri neighborhood where the 60-year-old man, Moawia Othman, was shot Thursday evening during demonstrations against the 30-year-old rule of President Omar al-Bashir.

Before police opened fire, some mourners had pelted police nearby with rocks and damaged a police car, a Reuters witness said. The mourners blocked a main street in Burri with stones and chanted "There is no God but God!" and "Martyr! Martyr!". Several were wailing and crying and some were carrying Sudanese flags.

The protests, now in a fifth week, were triggered by price rises, but have quickly developed into demonstrations against Bashir. Bashir has blamed the protests on foreign "agents" and said the unrest would not lead to a change in government, challenging his opponents to seek power through the ballot box.

In violent clashes in Burri Thursday, a child and a doctor were shot dead, the Sudan Doctors' Committee, a group linked to the opposition, said. A live video posted on social media and verified by Reuters showed security forces pointing guns at protesters in Burri. A sound of gunfire could be heard.

After Friday's shooting outside Othman's home, thousands attended his funeral at a cemetery across from a police officers' club. Clashes with police had calmed by the time protesters transported the body to Burri Mosque.

Thousands take to streets to oppose Bashir’s rule

_{Associated Press}
CAIRO: Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets Thursday in cities across Sudan, including the capital, where activists said two people were killed in clashes between police and protesters attempting to reach the presidential palace to demand President Omar al-Bashir step down. The protests, called for by professional and opposition groups, are part of a wave of unrest over a failing economy that has transformed into demands for the resignation of the autocratic Bashir, an Islamist who has run the country for nearly 30 years but brought little improvement to his people. The protests first erupted on Dec. 19.

“Day after day, the number of demonstrators is increasing. Today we will gather in the thousands and tomorrow we will reach the millions,” said Reem, a receptionist.

“I will not stop until we achieve the change that gives me a decent life, a job and the salary I deserve.”

Mohammad Youssef, a spokesman for the Sudan Association of Professionals, said protesters were prepared to continue to press their grievances while remaining “patient and wise.”

“The people of Sudan are known for being particularly determined, stubborn and for playing the long game. They are not hot-headed, nor do they despair easily,” he said.

The government crackdown has been harsh over the past month, with rights advocates reporting the use of excessive force by police and Amnesty International accusing security forces of firing tear gas and live ammunition in and around hospitals. At least 40 people have been killed in the clashes, according to rights groups, but the government has acknowledged only 24 deaths.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called such reports “credible” and “deeply worrying,” urging the government to ensure citizens’ rights to freedom of expression.

Hundreds of demonstrators aged in their 20s and 30s gathered in the back streets around the Nile-side presidential palace, calling for a peaceful uprising and the downfall of Bashir, while men in civilian clothing carrying assault rifles, some wearing face masks, blocked the main approaches, activists said.

Videos posted online - the main method to communicate freely in Sudan - showed several marches in the hundreds across the country, with activists claiming nearly 2,000 demonstrators were in central Khartoum and two dozen of its neighborhoods held their own protests.

They also circulated photos showing several demonstrators purportedly injured by live fire.

As in previous attempts, police Thursday prevented the protesters from reaching the palace in Khartoum, using tear gas, rubber bullets and firing live ammunition in the air to disperse them. Cat-and-mouse maneuvers ensued between the police and the protesters, who remained on the streets well after nightfall.

Smaller protests later erupted in residential neighborhoods and the activists reported that the security forces were storming homes to arrest protesters who took refuge there.

A medical committee associated with the protests’ organizers said two demonstrators, including a child, died of gunshot wounds. Four others were wounded when hit by live rounds and three more sustained injuries from rubber bullets. The casualty figures could not immediately be independently confirmed.

Earlier in the day, security forces arrested several journalists near the palace who were reporting on the march, they added, while police fired tear gas to disperse crowds elsewhere in the city’s central Al-Arabi market area.

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