Khartoum - At least nine people were killed and many others
wounded when Sudanese security forces violently attempted to disperse
a long-running mass sit-in, the Central Committee of Sudan Doctors
(CCSD) said Monday.
More deaths had been reported by witnesses but still needed to be
officially confirmed, the CCSD said in a statement, calling the
attack a "massacre."
Earlier on Monday, the CCSD and opposition group the Sudanese
Professionals' Association (SPA) reported that five peaceful
protesters had been killed after security forces fired live rounds at
demonstrators outside military headquarters in the capital Khartoum.
The number of dead had now risen to nine and a large number of
protesters were critically injured, the CCSD added.
Security forces were also firing rounds of live ammunition inside
Khartoum's East Nile Hospital and were chasing protesters inside the
hospital's campus, according to the CCSD.
In this image made from video, civilians walk down a street in Khartoum with plumes of smoke rising in the horizon. Picture: Elmontasir Darwish via AP
The SPA was meanwhile appealing to international medical aid
organizations to intervene and help the injured, who it said were
trapped in the square, which security forces had now blocked off
access to.
The Transitional Military Council (TMC), which has been in power
since it ousted long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir in a military coup in
April, has denied it ordered an attack on the protesters who are
demanding a return to an elected civilian government.
Soldiers had merely targeted an area next to the sit-in, which had
been "affecting security," TMC spokesman Sham Eddin Kabashi told
broadcaster Sky News Arabic.
In this image made from video, Sudanese forces escort civilian in Khartoum. Picture: AP Photo via AP video
"The concerned authorities decided to move towards this area, to
implement security for the society... We did not target the sit-in,"
said Kabashi.
Sudanese security forces' attacks against protesters and other civilians is wrong and must stop. Responsibility falls on the TMC.
— US Embassy Khartoum (@USEmbassyKRT) June 3, 2019
The US Embassy in Khartoum, however, said it believed the TMC was
responsible for the clash.
"Responsibility falls on the TMC. The TMC cannot responsibly lead the
people of Sudan," the Embassy said on Twitter.
"Sudanese security forces' attacks against protesters and other
civilians is [sic] wrong and must stop," it added.
Police officers running down a street in Khartoum. Picture: Elmontasir Darwish via AP
The SPA called for a country-wide political strike and civil
disobedience campaign in response to Monday's attack.
The group urged citizens to "activate all means of peaceful
resistance in order to overthrow the [military] junta and the
abhorrent regime. We appeal to all to go out now to the streets in
peaceful demonstrations and processions to the squares."
The people of Sudan should block all streets and bridges with
barricades and paralyse public life, the SPA said.