Iran Press/Africa: Today Sudanese capital Khartoum facing the worst violence since the overthrow of President Omar al-Bashir in April.
Footage shared on social media show ongoing 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.
A massacre is taking place; protesters say.
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.
International call of condemning violence
The European Union called on the military leaders to allow people to protest peacefully and urged a speedy transfer of power to civilians. The African Union, which has given the military council until the end to June to hand over power to civilians, condemned the violence and called for an immediate investigation.
In Khartoum, demonstrators hurled stones at security forces, who charged amid sounds of intense gunfire.
The military’s role in ousting Bashir has raised fears among many Sudanese that their country could follow a similar path to neighboring Egypt after its 2011 uprising.
The Sudan Military Council supported by UAE and Saudi Arabia who are eager to root out Islamists who dominated in Sudan under Bashir’s three-decade rule.
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