Pro-democracy protests spread across Sudan

KHARTOUM: Security forces firing tear gas confronted pro-democracy demonstrators across Sudan on Sunday, correspondents and witnesses said.

Hoisting Sudanese flags and posters of activists killed in the past 12 months of protests, demonstrators attempted to march on the presidential palace in central Khartoum as security forces used tear gas to disperse them.

“We are living in a non-state. It has been a year… But we will continue… The whole country is out in the street,” demonstrator Momen Wad Zineb said.

On October 25, 2021, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan seized power, arresting civilian leaders and derailing a transition to civilian rule that had started with the 2019 ouster of long-time autocrat Omar al-Bashir.

According to pro-democracy medics, 119 people have been killed in the crackdown on near-weekly pro-democracy protests that have been held since.

Mass protests were reignited last week on the first anniversary of the power grab, when thousands marched across Sudan, demanding an end to the political and economic crisis that has gripped the country.

One protester was killed when he was crushed by a military vehicle in Omdurman, according to pro-democracy medics.

“We are continuing our movement, holding to our three principles: no negotiation, no partnership, and no legitimacy” for the military, Asma Harzaoui said in Khartoum, echoing the protest movement’s rallying cry.

Eyewitnesses said thousands also demonstrated in the cities of Wad Madani and El Obeid, south of Khartoum, and Kassala, Gedaref and Port Sudan in the east.