New anti-coup protests in Sudan
Thousands of Sudanese have once again marched in several cities across the country protesting against the military coup d'état of last October. In the country's capital, Khartoum, 10,000 demonstrators attended the protests, which took place under tight security around the presidential palace. Several of these protesters clashed in some places with security forces. In the capital, officers used tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse the protesters. More than 40 people were injured in the protests, according to emergency services.
The marches were called by pro-democracy groups, such as the Sudan Professionals Association and the so-called Resistance Committees, which are central to the uprising against Al-Bashir in 2019 and against the country's current military government. The protesters, most of them youths, set tyres on fire and blocked major roads in Khartoum, according to images on social media and reports by The Associated Press. There were also rallies in other places such as Qadarif and Port Sudan in the east and the war-torn Darfur region.
The main demand of these protests is the same as those that have taken place all these months: the dismissal of the generals behind the coup, holding them accountable in "swift and fair trials" and handing over power to a fully civilian government beyond the reach of the military.
These demonstrations have been going on for six months since the coup d'état in Sudan on 25 October last year, when the Sudanese army seized power, ending any chance of a democratic transition. The establishment of the military junta and the dismissal of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, which consolidated the military's hold on power, have prompted the Sudanese to call for almost daily street protests demanding the establishment of a civilian government. These protests have not been peaceful throughout this time, so much so that since October the repression against the demonstrators has caused the death of more than 90 people and thousands of injuries, according to data from the Sudanese Central Committee of Doctors.
These demonstrations are particularly symbolic for the Sudanese, as they are taking place on the third anniversary of the start of the sit-in in front of the military barracks in Khartoum, which led, among other things, to the ousting of Al-Bashir. It is also the 37th anniversary of the overthrow of President Jaafar al-Nimeiri in a coup d'état in 1985 following a popular uprising.
But in the face of this post-coup political situation, Western governments and global financial institutions have not stood on the sidelines. One of their first measures was to suspend their assistance to Sudan with the aim of pressuring the military junta to allow civilians into the government. US State Department spokesman Ned Price also urged Sudan's military rulers on Tuesday to allow peaceful protests to continue "without fear of violence".
In the face of these measures, the UN envoy for Sudan also warned last month that the African country was heading for "economic and security collapse" if the military's post-coup military policy was not reversed. The UN has also warned of other consequences for the Sudanese people, including the risk of a doubling of the number of people suffering from severe hunger in Sudan due to crop failures, the economic crisis and the war in Ukraine.
