KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Two men died after Sudanese security forces fired tear gas and live rounds at demonstrators on Tuesday, the Sudanese Professionals Association and other sources said.
Crowds had gathered in central Khartoum to commemorate the second anniversary, according to the Islamic calendar, of the raiding of a sit-in during the country’s 2019 uprising.
The protesters, who congregated despite roads leading to the site in front of military headquarters being blocked, chanted demands for justice and against military rule before forces dispersed them, three eyewitnesses said.
A spokesman for the police could not be reached for comment.
The two men died by gunshot wounds, a medical source, a protest group and eyewitnesses said. More than 20 people were injured, protest groups said.
In response to Tuesday’s killing, the alliance of families of those killed during the uprising said on their official Facebook page that they would begin organising nationwide non-violent resistance.
The 2019 protest camp was the culmination of months of protests that led the army to overthrow veteran leader Omar al-Bashir, and continued after the coup to demand civilian rule.
Activist doctors have said nearly 130 people were killed when the camp was raided on June 3, while officials have acknowledged 87 deaths. A commission tasked with investigating what happened has not yet presented its results.
Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who rose to power following a power-sharing agreement with the military council that ruled at the time of the sit-in raid, reiterated promises of justice for those killed in a statement earlier on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Nadine Awadalla and Nafisa Eltahir; Editing by Dan Grebler)
