Sudan’s army yesterday deployed around its Khartoum headquarters as thousands of protesters urging the military to join calls for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s resignation defied tear gas to demonstrate for a third day, witnesses said.
Since protests erupted across Sudan in December last year, agents of the powerful Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) and riot police have cracked down on demonstrators, but the army has not intervened.
Protesters have since Saturday camped out around the army complex — which also houses al-Bashir’s residence and the Ministry of Defense — in the biggest anti-government protests for months.
Photo: AFP
Witnesses said soldiers were putting up barricades in streets near the compound after NISS personnel and police failed to dislodge the demonstrators.
Several vehicles carrying intelligence agency members and riot police arrived in the early hours yesterday at the protest site, witnesses said.
“After that, security forces began firing tear gas at protesters,” a witness said on condition of anonymity.
Gunshots were also heard, witnesses said, but it was not clear who fired the shots.
The gas was felt by residents in an upscale Khartoum district about 5km away from the army complex.
“I stepped out on my balcony hearing the sound of the gas canisters and could feel the gas in the air,” one resident said.
A few hours later security personnel again fired tear gas at the demonstrators, witnesses said.
Protest organizers urged the residents of Khartoum and nearby areas to join the demonstrators who have been on the streets for three days straight.
“Security forces of the regime are trying to disperse the sit-in by force,” the organizers, called the Alliance for Freedom and Change, said in a statement. “We call on all people around Khartoum to gather there to protect our people on the ground.”
The rally outside the army headquarters has been the largest since protests began on Dec. 19 in the central town of Atbara, quickly spreading to the capital and towns and cities across the country.
Chanting anti-government slogans, protesters have been urging the military to back them in demandingal-Bashir’s resignation.
The EU said an “unprecedented” number of people had come out calling for change since Saturday.
“The people of Sudan have shown remarkable resilience in the face of extraordinary obstacles over many years,” the EU External Action Service said. “Their trust must be won through concrete action by the government.”
The protesters accuse al-Bashir’s administration of economic mismanagement that has led to soaring food prices and regular shortages of fuel and foreign currency.
Sudan’s security council on Sunday said the demands of the protesters “have to be heard,” after a meeting chaired by al-Bashir.
Sudanese officials say 32 people have died in protest-related violence since December, while Human Rights Watch has put the death toll at 51.
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