Khartoum: Sudanese police fired tear gas at crowds of demonstrators in the capital’s twin city Omdurman Tuesday protesting against the fatal wounding of a demonstrator last week, witnesses said.
The demonstration, which came ahead of planned nighttime rallies later on Tuesday in both Omdurman and Khartoum just across the Nile, was the latest in more than a month of escalating protests against the three-decade rule of President Omar al Bashir. Bashir, who has made appearances at loyalist rallies in Khartoum and other cities, was due in Qatar yesterday.
The demonstrators had gathered near the home of their dead comrade.
The doctors’ branch of the Sudanese Professionals’ Association (SPA) said he had died on Monday from wounds sustained when demonstrators clashed with security forces in Khartoum on Thursday.
The SPA has taken the lead in organising the protests after hundreds of opposition activists were detained, and its doctors’ branch has taken casualties.
Human rights groups say that several medics have been among more than 40 people killed in clashes with the security forces since the protests erupted on December 19.
The authorities say 26 people have been killed, including at least one doctor, but blame rebel provocateurs they say have infiltrated the protesters’ ranks. — AFP
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