{"id":644763,"date":"2019-06-03T13:25:42","date_gmt":"2019-06-03T13:25:42","guid":{"rendered":"
\"Pro-democracy<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\"Pro-democracy
Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Sudan\u2019s military rulers forcibly broke up a weeks-long sit-in outside Khartoum\u2019s army headquarters on Monday leaving at least 13 dead, a doctors\u2019 committee said as gunfire echoed from the site.<\/p>\n

Heavily armed security forces in pick-up trucks mounted with machine guns were deployed in large numbers all around the capital, while gunshots were heard from the protest site by an AFP journalist.<\/p>\n

The United States and Britain called for an end to the crackdown on demonstrators, who want the generals behind the overthrow of veteran president Omar Al-Bashir to hand over to civilian rule.<\/p>\n

DEATH TOLL<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors, which is close to the protesters, updated the death toll \u201craising the number of martyrs to 13\u201d in a Facebook statement.<\/p>\n

It also reported a \u201clarge number of critical casualties\u201d and called for \u201curgent support\u201d from the International Committee of the Red Cross and other humanitarian organisations to help the wounded.<\/p>\n

The military council has denied multiple reports of their forces violently dispersing the sit-in in front of army headquarters, as protesters took to the streets in towns around the country.<\/p>\n

But protest leaders said the site had been cleared of demonstrators.<\/p>\n

BODIES<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Rapid Support Forces and the army and police and militia battalions dispersed the peaceful sit-in,\u201d the Alliance for Freedom and Change, the protesters\u2019 umbrella group, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Outside the army headquarters \u201cthere is no one, but the pure bodies of our martyrs that it has not been possible to evacuate from the site\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), which spearheaded nationwide protests that started in December, said it amounted to a \u201cbloody massacre\u201d and hundreds of people had been wounded.<\/p>\n

It called on Sudanese to take part in \u201ctotal civil disobedience\u201d to topple the military council.<\/p>\n

SHOTS IN HOSPITAL<\/strong><\/p>\n

The doctors\u2019 committee said forces were also opening fire inside the city\u2019s East Nile Hospital and \u201cchasing peaceful protesters\u201d.<\/p>\n

It said another hospital near the site of the sit-in was surrounded and volunteers were prevented from reaching it.<\/p>\n

Rallies against Bashir\u2019s authoritarian, three-decade rule led to his ouster in April, but protesters had remained outside the army headquarters calling on the generals to cede power to a transitional authority.<\/p>\n

Near the demonstration site, a witness living in the Burri neighbourhood said he could \u201chear the sound of gunfire and I see a plume of smoke rising from the area of the sit-in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another resident of the area, in east Khartoum, said he had seen forces in \u201cpolice uniform\u201d trying to expel the demonstrators.<\/p>\n

\u2018MOVING FREELY\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

The military council \u201cdid not disperse the sit-in by force,\u201d its spokesman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tents are there, and the youth are moving freely,\u201d Shamseddine Kabbashi told Sky News Arabia.<\/p>\n

Protests erupted in towns across Sudan in response to the violence in Khartoum.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow the streets are closed (with barricades made) from stone and the chant is going round \u2018Just fall, that\u2019s all, the whole Council\u2019,\u201d a witness in Port Sudan on the Red Sea said.<\/p>\n

A witness in Atbara, in northern Sudan, said the city\u2019s roads were closed and \u201ceven the streets that link it to other towns.\u201d<\/p>\n

HEAVY GUNFIRE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Britain\u2019s ambassador to Khartoum, Irfan Siddiq, said he had heard \u201cheavy gunfire\u201d from his residence.<\/p>\n

The country\u2019s foreign minister condemned \u201cthe attack on protesters by Sudanese security forces\u201d and called it \u201can outrageous step\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Military Council bears full responsibility for this action and the international community will hold it to account,\u201d Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n

The US embassy in Khartoum said \u201csecurity forces\u2019 attacks against protesters and other civilians is wrong and must stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

PUTSCHIST COUNCIL<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cResponsibility falls on the TMC. The TMC cannot responsibly lead the people of Sudan,\u201d it added referring to the transitional military council.<\/p>\n

The Alliance for Freedom and Change announced \u201cthe end of all political contact and negotiations with the putschist Council\u201d following the deaths, even as neighbouring Egypt appealed for the two sides to talk.<\/p>\n

Negotiations between protest leaders and the ruling military council have broken down, as the two sides have failed to agree on whether a planned transitional body would be headed by a civilian or a military figure.<\/p>\n

The rally leaders urged \u201cpeaceful marches and rallies\u201d nationwide and for barricades to be put up including in the capital.<\/p>\n

Protesters had already set about building a brick barricade and had set tyres and tree trunks alight on one of the main streets in the capital.<\/p>\n

\n
Get more stories like this on Twitter<\/a><\/i><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n