'Sudan security forces shot dead 2 protesters'
Cairo: Sudanese security forces shot dead two people Saturday during mass protests against the country's recent military coup, a doctors' union said. The shootings came despite repeated appeals by the West to Sudan's new military rulers to show restraint and allow peaceful protests.
During the protests, thousands of Sudanese marched into the streets, chanting revolution, revolution to the sound of whistles and drums, to protest against the coup that is threatening to derail the country's fitful transition to democracy.
Pro-democracy groups had called for protests across the country to press demands for re-instating a deposed transitional government and releasing senior political figures from detention.
The United States and the United Nations had warned Sudan's strongman, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, that they view the military's treatment of the protesters as a test, and called for restraint.
Burhan has claimed that the transition to democracy would continue despite the military takeover, saying he would install a new technocrat government soon. The pro-democracy movement in Sudan fears the military has no intention of easing its grip, and will appoint politicians it can control.
Saturday's protests were likely to increase pressure on the generals who face mounting condemnations from the U.S. and other Western countries to restore a civilian-led government.
Crowds began to gather Saturday afternoon in the capital of Khartoum and its twin city Omdurman, Marchers chanted Give it up, Burhan and revolution, revolution. Some held up banners reading, Going backward is impossible.
The demonstrations were called by the Sudanese Professionals' Association and the so-called Resistance Committees. Both were
at the forefront of an uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir and his Islamist government in 2019.
They demand the dismantling of the now-ruling military council, led by Burhan, and the handover of the government to civilians. They also seek the dismantling paramilitary groups and restructuring the military, intelligence and security agencies. They want officers loyal to al-Bashir to be removed.
The Sudan Doctors Committee, a professional union, said security forces shot dead two people in Omdurman. It said one was shot in his head, and the other in his stomach.
Elsewhere, security forces fired tear gas at protesters Saturday as they attempted to cross the Manshia Bridge over the Nile River to reach Khartoum's downtown, said Mohammed Yousef al-Mustafa, a spokesman for the professionals' association.
No power-sharing mediation with the military council again, he said. They (the generals) have failed the transition and instated a coup.
Al-Mustafa spoke with The Associated Press over the phone while he took part in the protest in Khartoum's Manshia neighborhood.
