At least 13 people have been killed after security forces stormed a protest camp in the Sudanese capital Khartoum and fired live ammunition to break up a weeks-long sit-in.

The Central Committee of Sudan Doctors, a medical group linked to protesters, said at least 13 people were killed and several wounded in the Monday morning raid, which was still in progress. The committee also said security forces used live ammunition inside East Nile Hospital in Khartoum where some of the wounded were being treated.

In a post on Twitter, the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) said the country's ruling Transitional Military Council (TMC) had assigned a large number of troops to disperse the protest camp.

The sound of heavy gunfire was heard in footage broadcast from the scene, while plumes of smoke were seen rising into the sky.

Mohammed Alamin, a journalist in Khartoum, told Al Jazeera troops from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) first used tear gas then sound grenades to disperse protesters. Soldiers then fired live rounds at the remaining protesters.

"They are now in control of most of the sit-in area and have burnt down the makeshift clinics. Most of the protesters have been dispersed. Soldiers are blocking all entrances to the area with military vehicles to stop protesters from returning," Alamin said.

Madani Abbas Madani, one of the protest leaders, was injured as troops dispersed the protesters, Alamin added.

High tension at the sit-in at army hq in Khartoum. #Sudan’s Central Doctors’ Committee is calling for doctors to mobilize and prepare for emergencies amidst concerns that an attempt will be made to break the sit-in nearly 2 months after it started. https://t.co/NU2GFsIZ45 — Hiba Morgan (@hiba_morgan) June 3, 2019

Speaking to Al Jazeera, witnesses spoke of soldiers being heavily armed and of using live ammunition against protesters who were peaceful and did nothing to provoke the troops.

"We are being attacked by the Rapid Support Forces and the police," Mamadou Abozeid, a protester in Khartoum, told Al Jazeera over the phone.

'Shooting at everyone'

Mohammed Elmunir, another protester in the Sudanese capital, said security forces blocked the exits of the sit-in site before opening fire on protesters.

"They were shooting at everyone randomly and people were running for their lives. They blocked all roads and most tents at the sit-in have been set on fire," Elmunir told Al Jazeera.

"People are very angry right now. They don't know what could happen next. Protesters have dispersed to other parts of the city. They are now on the streets protesting. Most people have blocked the roads in their neighbourhoods," he added.

In a statement, the SPA said the TMC would be held accountable for any bloodshed and called for a campaign of civil disobedience.

"It is imperative to go out to the streets to protect the revolution and the remaining dignity. Our weapons are peace courage," it said in a statement.

"We call on the revolutionaries in all neighbourhoods, villages, towns and cities of Sudan to go out to the streets and start marching, closing all streets and bridges and ports. We call for a comprehensive civil disobedience to bring down the deadly military junta and complete our revolution."

Nawal Osman, a protester in Khartoum, said she and her husband were getting ready to leave their house and join the protesters.

"I am going there now, I live near the protest area," she told Al Jazeera over the phone. "This revolution is staying," she added. "We are all ready to be there, to protect the country and to get rid of those criminals."

Sudanese human rights activist Azaz Elshami said it was not surprising the military had resorted to using deadly force to deal with protesters.

"What is happening is the mask is finally falling. The military is not different from the government before it. They are not what they said they are. They don't want change and they want power for themselves. Now, everyone knows what they are up against. This is a new phase. It might take much longer, but I don't think Sudanese people will back down," Elshami told Al Jazeera.

'Barbaric act'

The sit-in has become the focal point of Sudan's protest movement, which saw longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir overthrown in April and has since been calling for the generals who replaced him to hand over power to a civilian-led administration.

The operation came days after Sudan's military rulers called the sit-in outside the defence ministry "a danger" to the country's national security and warned that action would be taken against what they called "unruly elements".

190527072135511

The military also ordered the office of the Al Jazeera Media Network in Khartoum to be shut down, without giving any reason.

It withdrew the work permits for the correspondents and staff of the Qatar-based news organisation.

"People have started putting up barricades in many areas and it seems that the situation is aggravating," Hamid Eldood, a professor at Al-Neelain University, told Al Jazeera from Khartoum.

He added that the latest developments indicated a "tone change" by the members of the TMC following the visit by its head, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo - also known as Hemeti - "to Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates".

"It is really a barbaric act and it seems Sudan is heading towards civil war and a [bleak] future," Eldood said.

Additional reporting by Mohammed Alamin in Khartoum. </s> At least 14 people have been killed as demonstrations continue to embroil Sudan.

A total number of 22 people have died since the weekend - including five soldiers - according to activists behind the movement.

Tuesday's deaths came as Sudanese security forces tried to break up an anti-government sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khartoum for a second time.

Image: Protests have raged through Sudan

Police used tear gas, rubber bullets and live fire to try to disperse the protesters, according to Sudanese Professionals Association, which is spearheading the demonstrations.

Anti-government protests have been taking place for four months in anger over a struggling economy - with growing calls for President Omar al Bashir to end his 30-year rule.

Advertisement

For the first time on Monday, leaders of the protests called for the military's leaders to abandon the president. They followed up on Tuesday by inviting the leaders to meet for discussions.

Image: More than 20 people have died in the protests

Their appeal was rebuffed, with Major General Ahmed Khalifa al Shami saying the military has nothing to do with political matters.

Footage posted online on Tuesday showed some Sudanese troops working to protect the protesters and guarding the entrance to the sit-in demonstration.

The Sudan Doctors Committee said at least 153 people had been wounded since Saturday.

On Tuesday, Norway, the UK and the US backed the protesters' demands and called for a "credible plan" for political transition.

Amnesty International said authorities in Khartoum shut off the water supply to where the sit-in is, and that cars were being searched and seized by security forces if they were found to be taking food and water to protesters.

Image: Activists are calling for President Omar al-Bashir to step down.

"The move by the authorities to try to starve protesters and deny them access to communication is a clear attempt to silence and deny protesters their human rights," said Joan Nyanyuki, the group's director for the region.

Sudan's interior minister Bishara Gomaa told the parliament on Monday that at least seven people had been killed in the protests since Saturday - six in Khartoum and the seventh in the Darfur region.

No further comment on the latest reported deaths have been issued. </s> Sudan's government says police have arrested 816 people in nearly three weeks of protests against the 29-year rule of President Omar al-Bashir.

Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday that at least 40 people have been killed in the protests, which began Dec. 19, initially over price rises and shortages but soon shifted to calls for al-Bashir to step down.

Interior Minister Ahmed Bilal Othman, who gave the figure on the number of people detained, told parliament Monday that 19 people were killed in the protests, including two members of the security forces. Al-Bashir has ordered an investigation into the killings.

Authorities also have arrested scores of opposition leaders. 

 

 Human Rights Watch says security forces have been using live ammunition and excessive force against the protesters as well as arbitrary detentions. </s> (Reuters) - At least 11 people were wounded by gunfire near a protest sit-in in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Saturday, an opposition doctors’ committee said.

Sudan’s main protest group blamed the violence on the Transitional Military Council (TMC), saying that it is part of a plan to violently clear the protests.

“The killing and intimidation on Nile Street is just a prelude to committing a massacre to end the sit-in by force,” Sudanese Professionals’ Association (SPA) said in a statement late on Saturday.

Tensions are mounting between the TMC and an alliance of protest and opposition groups who want a quick handover of power to civilians.

TMC officials could not immediately be reached for a comment.

The head of the central Khartoum military region said on Thursday the protest site “has become unsafe and represents a danger to the revolution and the revolutionaries and threatens the coherence of the state and its national security.” </s> Security forces stormed a protest camp in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Monday morning and at least nine people were reported to have been killed in the worst violence since the overthrow of President Omar al-Bashir in April.

Footage broadcast by al-Hadath and Jazeera television showed chaotic scenes of people fleeing through streets as sustained bursts of gunfire crackled in the air. People rushed to carry away those who had been hit, the footage showed.

The main protest group accused the ruling military council of trying to break up the camp, calling the action “a massacre”. But the council said the security forces had targeted criminals in an adjacent area.

The protesters and Sudan’s military rulers had been negotiating over who should govern in a transitional period following the overthrow of Bashir after months of generally peaceful demonstrations, but the talks have become deadlocked.

The Transitional Military Council (TMC) has offered to let protesters form a government but insists on maintaining overall authority during an interim period. The demonstrators want civilians to run the transitional period and lead Sudan’s 40 million people to democracy.

Thousands of young men and women have been taking turns to camp outside the Defence Ministry, the focal point of anti-government protests that started in December.

The opposition’s doctors committee said nine people had been killed in Monday’s violence.

“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 protest group said in a statement.

It urged the Sudanese people to come to their aid.

The military council’s spokesman, Lieutenant General Shams El Din Kabbashi, said the raid targeted criminals and that the protesters were safe.

“The protest camp has not been dispersed,” Kabbashi said. “The security forces were trying to disperse unruly (elements) in the Colombia area, near the protest site, and some of these elements fled to the protest site and caused this chaos.”

The council was still committed to a political settlement and was ready to resume talks on a civilian transition soon, Kabbashi added.

The British Ambassador in Khartoum said he had heard heavy gunfire for more than an hour from his residence and he was extremely concerned.

“No excuse for any such attack. This. Must. Stop. Now,” Ambassador Irfan Siddiq wrote on Twitter.

The U.S. Embassy in Khartoum also described the attack on the protest camp as “wrong” and said it must stop.

“Responsibility falls on the TMC. The TMC cannot responsibly lead the people of Sudan,” the embassy said on its Twitter account.

The television footage showed black smoke rising from tents apparently torched by the raiding force.

Protesters poured into the streets in Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman, on the opposite side of the River Nile, after news of the raid spread. Demonstrators blocked roads with rocks and burning tyres, witnesses said.

Demonstrators, some waving Sudanese flags, hurled stones at security forces, who charged amid sounds of intense gunfire.

A video posted on social media showed one protester collapse to the ground, crying in pain after being hit by what appeared as live fire.

A Reuters witness saw troops wielding batons, including riot police and members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, deploy in central Khartoum and close roads, apparently to try to block people from reaching the protest site.

Bridges over the Nile have also been blocked.

There were no signs of any security forces in Omurdam.

Under Bashir, an Islamist former general who ruled for three decades and is wanted by international prosecutors for alleged war crimes in the Darfur region, Sudan was on a U.S. list of sponsors of terrorism.

Various powers, including wealthy Gulf Arab states, and now trying to influence its path. Stability is crucial for the security of a volatile region struggling against Islamist insurgencies, from the Horn of Africa through Egypt and Libya. </s> Sudanese activists: 7 more killed in clashes with police

CAIRO (AP) — Activists behind anti-government demonstrations in Sudan say security forces have killed at least seven people, including a military officer, in another attempt to break up a sit-in outside the military headquarters in the capital.

Sarah Abdel-Jaleel, spokeswoman for the Sudanese Professionals Association, says clashes erupted early on Tuesday between security forces and protesters who have been camping out in front of the complex in Khartoum since the weekend.

The new deaths brought the total number of people killed by the security forces since Saturday to 15.

Abdel-Jaleel says at least 30 protesters were wounded in the violence. A government spokesman didn't respond to calls seeking comment.

The demonstrations began in December over an economic crisis but quickly escalated into calls for an end to President Omar al-Bashir's 30-year rule. </s> CAIRO (AP) - Sudanese activists say a protester injured in anti-government demonstrations has died of his wounds.

An umbrella coalition of independent professional unions says Wednesday the victim, Abuzar Ahmed, was shot in the head last week in the eastern city of Gadaref.

The coalition says at least 22 protesters were wounded on Tuesday.

There were no reports of fresh protests on Wednesday.

The protests began last week, initially over rising prices and shortages of food and fuel, but later escalated into calls for President Omar Bashir to step down.

Amnesty International said it had "credible reports" that Sudanese police have killed 37 protesters since the protests began.

In this Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2018 handout image provided a Sudanese activist, people chant slogans during a demonstration in Kordofan, Sudan. In the capital Khartoum on Tuesday, police used tear gas and fired in the air to disperse thousands of protesters attempting to march on the presidential palace to demand that Omar Bashir, Sudan's president of 29 years, step down, according to activists and video clips posted online. (Sudanese Activist via AP)

The government has acknowledged fatalities during the protests but given no figures. An opposition leader said over the weekend that 22 protesters were killed. </s> Security forces stormed a protest camp in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Monday morning and at least 13 people were reported killed in the worst violence since the overthrow of President Omar al-Bashir in April.

Footage shared on social media and verified by Reuters showed chaotic scenes of people fleeing through streets as sustained bursts of gunfire crackled in the air. People rushed to carry away those who had been hit.

Witnesses said a sit-in next to the Defense Ministry, the focal point of anti-government protests that started in December, had been cleared, but protesters poured onto the streets elsewhere in Khartoum and beyond in response to the crackdown.

The main protest group accused the ruling military council of breaking up the camp, calling the action “a massacre”. The military council denied trying to break up the camp and said security forces had targeted “unruly” groups nearby.

An alliance of protest and opposition groups said it was halting all contact with the military council. The two sides had been negotiating for weeks over who should govern in a transitional period after Bashir’s overthrow, though the talks had stalled.

The Transitional Military Council (TMC) had offered to let protesters form a government but insisted on maintaining overall authority during an interim period. Demonstrators want civilians to run the transitional period and lead Sudan’s 40 million people to democracy.

A group of doctors linked to the opposition said 13 “martyrs” had been killed in Monday’s violence, and that at least 116 people had been wounded. It said security forces had surrounded one Khartoum hospital and had opened fire at another where they were pursuing protesters.

“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,” said the Sudanese Professionals Association, the group that has spearheaded protests.

It urged the Sudanese people to come to their aid.

The military council’s spokesman, Lieutenant General Shams El Din Kabbashi, said the raid targeted criminals and that the protesters were safe.

“The protest camp has not been dispersed,” Kabbashi said. “The security forces were trying to disperse unruly (elements) in the Colombia area, near the protest site, and some of these elements fled to the protest site and caused this chaos.”

The council was still committed to a political settlement and was ready to resume talks, Kabbashi added, speaking before the alliance called off the negotiations. </s> Sudan’s security services have shot dead four high school students protesting in the city of El-Obeid on Monday, Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors confirmed.Many other people were injured while security service tried to break up the protest, according to the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors who helped lead months of protests against Sudan’s long-term leader Omar al-Bashir.

Sudan’s military leaders who ousted Bashir in a coup in April have not issued any statement concerning the protest and the killing of demonstrators.

A video making the rounds on social media features hundreds of high school students in their uniform chanting “blood for blood” outside El-Obeid’s main hospital where those killed and injured were taken.

Demonstrators who demand the military to speed up the move to civilian rule and call for justice for people killed during a raid on a sit-in protest in Khartoum in June have been staging protests since April.
Over 13 people have been killed when Sudanese forces use live ammunition to break up a protester camp in Khartoum.