Sudan protesters, generals trade blame for bloodshed at rally

Sudan’s protest leaders and ruling generals traded blame yesterday for deadly new violence as three blood-stained bodies were found a day after the first mass rallies since a crackdown on demonstrators. State media reported that seven people were killed on Sunday when tens of thousands rallied to demand a civilian government, while medics linked to the protest movement said five protesters had been killed.

Protesters have been calling for the departure of generals who seized power following the April ouster of longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir. Sunday’s “million man” march had been seen as a test for protest organisers after a June 3 raid on a Khartoum protest camp left dozens dead and a subsequent internet blackout curbed their ability to mobilise support.

But that did not prevent vast crowds of men and women, chanting slogans demanding “civilian rule”, flooding the streets of Khartoum, twin city Omdurman and other towns and cities, AFP correspondents and witnesses reported. Security forces were deployed en masse in key Khartoum squares, firing tear gas in several areas including at protesters attempting to reach the capital’s residential palace.

The official SUNA news agency quoted a health ministry official as saying seven people were killed, without giving details, and another 181 wounded, including 27 by gunfire. It also said a further 10 security personnel were wounded, including three from the feared paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), shot with “live ammunition”.

‘Just fall!

A doctors’ committee linked to the protest movement said five protesters were killed on Sunday, four of them in Omdurman, across the Nile from Khartoum. It also said several more were seriously wounded by gunshots fired by “military council militias,” a term used by protesters for the RSF. On Monday, three bloodstained bodies were found lying in an area of Omdurman that had seen protests the previous day, an AFP correspondent reported.

Their identities were not immediately clear, but the doctors committee later described them as “martyrs”. Crowds of people gathered around the bodies, chanting “Just Fall, Just Fall,” another catchcry of the protest movement that has rocked Sudan since demonstrations first erupted against Bashir in December. Protest leaders blamed the generals for Sunday ’s bloodshed.

“The military council is completely responsible for these lives lost,” prominent protest leader Mohamed Naji al-Assam said in a video posted on his Facebook page. “Peaceful Sudanese protesters are exposed to excessive violence, live bullets and beatings,” he said. But, he added, “the Sudanese have proven that they will not back down”. The generals in turn blamed the protest movement, the Alliance for Freedom and Change, for Sunday’s violence.