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Two people shot dead during nationwide protests against Sudan coup

30 October 2021 19:02 (UTC +04:00)

Military forces shot dead two people during nationwide protests in Sudan on Saturday, a doctors committee said, as hundreds of thousands of people demanded the restoration of a civilian-led government after a military coup, APA reports citing Reuters.

Sudan's Central Doctors Committee said the two protesters were shot dead by troops in the capital Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman during demonstrations.
People carried Sudanese flags and chanted "Military rule can't be praised" and "This country is ours, and our government is civilian" as they marched in neighbourhoods across the capital.

Protesters also took to the streets in cities in central, eastern, northern and western Sudan. Crowds swelled to the hundreds of thousands in Khartoum, said a Reuters witness.
Thousands of Sudanese have already demonstrated this week against the ousting of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's cabinet on Monday by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan in a takeover that led Western states to freeze hundreds of millions of dollars in aid.

In central Khartoum on Saturday there was a heavy military deployment of armed troops that included the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

Security forces had blocked roads leading to the defence ministry complex and the airport.

At least 11 protesters have been killed in clashes with security forces this week and opponents fear a full-blown crackdown.

In local neighbourhoods, protest groups blocked roads overnight with stones, bricks, tree branches and plastic pipes to try to keep the security forces out.

A 75-year-old man who gave his name as Moatez and who was walking the streets searching for bread said normal life had been brought to a complete halt in Khartoum. “Why did Burhan and the army put the country in this crisis? They could solve the problem without violence,” he said.