Khartoum - Sudanese forces entered the
site of a sit-in in central Khartoum early on Monday amid
gunfire, witnesses and Arab television stations said, in what
activists described as an attempt to disperse protesters
demanding civilian rule.
A medical association affiliated to protesters said at least
two people were killed and dozens injured in the raid, which was
still in progress.
"The protesters holding a sit-in in front of the army
general command are facing a massacre in a treacherous attempt
to disperse the protest," the main protest group said in a
statement, urging the Sudanese people to come to their aid.
The violence comes amid a persistent deadlock in talks
between protesters and Sudan's military rulers over demands to
hand over power to civilians.
The Transitional Military Council (TMC), which assumed power
in April when the military ousted President Omar al-Bashir after
three decades in office, has offered to let protesters form a
government to run the country but insists on maintaining overall
authority during an interim period.
Demonstrators want civilians to run the transitional period
and lead the North African country of 40 million to democracy.
Protesters flee along side streets away from a sit-in, after security forces tried to disperse them, in central Khartoum, Sudan in this still frame taken from June 3, 2019, social media video. Picture: Sudan Congress Party/via Reuters
Stability in Sudan is crucial for a region grappling with
violence that stretches from the Horn of Africa to Libya.
The TMC has repeatedly said it would not use force to
disperse the protesters, often comprising thousands of young men
and women who take turns camping outside the Defence Ministry.
No statement about the violence has yet been issued by the
TMC.
Protesters flee along side streets away from a sit-in, after security forces tried to disperse them, in central Khartoum, Sudan. Picture: Sudan Congress Party/via Reuters
The British Ambassador in Khartoum said in a message on his
Twitter account he was "extremely concerned by the heavy gunfire
I've been hearing over the last hour from my Residence and
reports that Sudanese security forces are attacking the protest
sit-in site resulting in casualties".
"No excuse for any such attack. This. Must. Stop. Now," he
wrote.
Protesters flee along side streets away from a sit-in, after security forces tried to disperse them, in central Khartoum, Sudan in this still frame taken from June 3, 2019, social media video. Picture: Sudan Congress Party/via Reuters
Live footage broadcast by Arab television stations showed
chaotic scenes, with protesters running away as black smoke rose
from tents apparently torched by the raiding force.
A Reuters witness saw troops wielding batons deploy in
central Khartoum and close roads, apparently to try to block
people from reaching the protest site.
Nile bridges that connect various parts of the Sudanese
capital have also been blocked.
The sit-in had become the focal point of protests that
started in December, sparked by a severe financial crisis that
caused cash shortages and bread price hikes.
Sudan, one of the largest countries in Africa, has long been
on a US list of countries that support terrorism, which has
hampered foreign investments.