13 dead as sit-in protestors forcefully dispersed in Khartoum

At least 13 people have been killed after the violent dispersal of sit-in protestors who’ve been camped at Sudan’s military headquarters in Khartoum.

According to the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors, an organization aligned with the protestors, various security forces were involved in the operation, resulting in a “large number of casualties.” The current number of fatalities is that of confirmed cases, as the group works to access the protest site.

“The Rapid Support Forces and the army and police and militia battalions dispersed the peaceful sit-in,” iterated the Alliance for Freedom and Change, an umbrella organization for the protestors who’ve been at the military headquarters since April 6^th.

CCSD has also claimed that security forces have been chasing protestors even within the grounds of the East Nile Hospital, and have fired live ammunition in the hospital.

The Transitional Military Council, the junta currently leading Sudan after deposing Omar Bashir in April, has however refuted the accusations leveled against its forces.

According to its spokesperson, their forces were engaged in an operation nearby, and didn’t target the protestors.

“The concerned authorities decided to move towards this area, to implement security for the society…We did not target the sit-in,” explained Sham Eddin Kabashi.

The protestors, who are demanding the restoration of a fully civilian government, have been targeted before.

Just days after they began their sit in, more than 20 protestors had been killed, with a further 150 injured. By and large, these deaths were blamed on agents of the National Intelligence and Security Service, whose leadership had aligned itself with Omar Bashir, who was deposed on April 11.

In mid-May, at least 6 people, including a member of the security forces, were killed after a gunman fired upon the sit-in protestors.

The Council stated at the time that the attack may have been instigated by groups that are “working hard to abort any negotiations [between the junta and opposition parties].”

Leaders of the sit-in demonstrators blamed the army.