by Nafisa Eltahir and Khalid Abdelaziz
KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Sudanese security forces fatally shot four people around the capital Khartoum in a large demonstration against the military coup on Thursday, a medical association close to the protest movement reported.
Several tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Khartoum and in the neighboring towns of Omdurman and Barri to denounce the takeover of the army on October 25 and to demand the establishment of a transitional civilian government.
As the protesters made their way to the presidential palace in the heart of the capital, security forces used tear gas and stun grenades to stop the procession about two kilometers from the palace, a witness said.
An important security device was in place in the area, he added.
According to another witness, the security forces also used tear gas in Barri, near a blocked bridge connecting the city to the capital.
No immediate comment was made by the military.
An opposition coalition denounced the excessive use of force against demonstrators, calling on “regional and international communities and human rights organizations to condemn the putsch”.
The UN special envoy for Sudan, Volker Perthes, said he was “deeply concerned” by the deaths, stressing the right of the people to “express themselves freely in a peaceful manner”.
The majority of bridges to Khartoum were closed, while internet services and mobile phone networks appeared to have been cut, to stem what constituted the eleventh round of massive protests against the coup two months earlier.
With the three deaths reported Thursday, the toll of the repression of demonstrations reported since October by the Sudanese Central Committee of Doctors has increased to 51 dead.
(Report Nafisa Eltahir and Khalid Abdelaziz; French version Jean Terzian)
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