4 killed as Sudan opposition protest turns violent in capital Khartoum

KHARTOUM: Four people were killed in Sudan on Sunday on the first day of a “civil disobedience” campaign by protesters, a doctors’ committee linked to demonstrators said. Two people were shot dead in the capital Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman just across the Nile river, the Central Committee for Sudanese Doctors said, adding two others died in a hospital in Omdurman after being stabbed. The committee blamed the ruling military council and paramilitary forces for the four deaths. It said a total of 118 people have been killed since a crackdown was launched on June 3 to disperse a sit-in protest outside the military headquarters in the Sudanese capital. Earlier police fired warning shots to disperse protesters building roadblocks in the capital, as part of a civil disobedience campaign against the ruling generals following a bloody crackdown that left dozens dead. The campaign got under way nearly a week after the assault on demonstrators at a sit-in outside army headquarters, which followed talks breaking down between protest leaders and military rulers. Following the call for civil disobedience, protesters set about building roadblocks in Khartoum while markets and shops were closed in several other towns and cities. In the capital’s northern Bahari district, people gathered tyres, tree trunks and rocks to build new roadblocks. “Almost all internal roads of Bahari have roadblocks. Protesters are even stopping residents from going to work,” a witness said. But riot police swiftly moved in, firing gunshots in the air and tear gas at demonstrators before clearing the makeshift barriers, he said. The Sudanese Professionals Association, which first launched protests in December, said the civil disobedience campaign would continue until the military rulers transfer power to a civilian government. In the Bahari district, onlookers saw a police truck full of people in civilian clothing but it was not possible to confirm whether they were arrested demonstrators. Khartoum residents have mostly remained indoors since last Monday, when men in military fatigues raided the protest camp and killed dozens of people. Several vehicles of the feared Rapid Support Forces (RSF), blamed by witnesses for the killings, were seen on Sunday moving across some parts of the capital loaded with machine guns. The RSF were also seen surrounding the main electricity station. Residents in Khartoum have remained on edge since the raid on the sit-in, which killed at least 115 people according to doctors close to the demonstrators. The health ministry says 61 people died nationwide in the crackdown, 49 of them by “live ammunition” in Khartoum. Several airlines have scrapped their Sudan flights since the deadly raid and passengers were left waiting outside Khartoum airport’s departures terminal on Sunday, although it was unclear whether any flights would take-off. The downtown business district was largely shut and buses were not running in several districts, but private vehicles were ferrying passengers in some areas. In Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman, across the River Nile, many shops and markets remained closed but residents were seen buying staples in some grocery stores. “Troops were also seen removing roadblocks from some streets in Omdurman,” an onlooker said. — Agencies