KHARTOUM: Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok said he has replaced Sudan's police chiefs after more than 40 people were killed in a crackdown on protests following last month's military coup.
Military chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan seized power and detained Hamdok on October 25, but after international condemnation and mass protests he reinstated the premier in a November 21 deal.
Medics say at least 42 people were killed as security forces sought to crush weeks of anti-coup demonstrations, with protests continuing even after Hamdok's release from house arrest and return to his post last week.
On Saturday, Hamdok said he had sacked the director general of the police, Khaled Mahdi Ibrahim al-Emam, and his deputy, Ali Ibrahim.
In their place, he appointed Anan Hamed Mohamed Omar with Abdelrahman Nasreddine Abdallah as his deputy, the premier said in a statement.
Medics have accused security forces of targeting protesters in the "head, neck and torso" with live ammunition, as well as with rubber-coated bullets and tear gas canisters. The police have denied reports they opened fire using live bullets.
In addition, hundreds of political activists, journalists, protesters and bystanders watching the rallies have been arrested in recent weeks, and remain in custody. While several civilian leaders have been released since last Sunday's deal, key figures are also still in detention.
The deal raised hopes for some that Sudan will be able to return to its tenuous transition process.
But critics slammed the agreement as "whitewashing" the coup, with some protesters accusing Hamdok of "treason" by signing it.
Hamdok, who has headed a transitional government since the 2019 ouster of long-time autocratic ruler Omar al-Bashir, said Wednesday he partnered with the military in order to "stop the bloodshed" and "not squander the gains of the last two years".
The deal he signed with Burhan lays down a "clear date" for Sudan's first free elections in three decades slated for July 2023, the premier said.
PROTESTS
Sudanese security forces fired tear gas at thousands of protesters who rallied against a deal that saw the prime minister reinstated after his ouster in a military coup last month, witnesses said.
Demonstrators in the capital, Khartoum, chanted "the people want the downfall of the regime" while in the capital's twin city Omdurman others shouted "power to the people, a civilian government is the people's choice".
Security forces fired tear gas to disperse protesters in Omdurman as well as in the central state of North Kordofan and in North Darfur, witnesses said.
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan seized power and detained Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok on October 25, but after international condemnation and mass protests he reinstated the premier in a deal they signed on Sunday.
Thursday marked a month since the military coup.
"I initially went out to protest to demand retribution for people killed after the coup, and now I am protesting against the Burhan-Hamdok deal," protester Soheir Hamad said in south Khartoum.
This deal "blocks the way towards a full civilian rule. We don't want the military to play a role in politics", she said.
Protests also broke out in other states including Wad Madani, Kassala, and the western Darfur region, according to witnesses.
Protest organisers have dubbed on Thursday as "Martyr's day", to pay tribute to the 42 people killed, according to medics, in the deadly crackdown against anti-coup demonstrators.
By nightfall, demonstrations in Khartoum and other cities began to thin out, according to witnesses.
Pro-democracy activists in Sudan have accused Hamdok of "betrayal" and vowed to maintain pressure on the military-civilian authority.
Hamdok, who has been prime minister in the transitional government since the ouster of long-time ruler Omar al Bashir in 2019, has defended the deal.
He said on Wednesday he had partnered with the military to "stop the bloodshed" and to "not squander the gains of the last two years".
Protesters in North Khartoum slammed him, chanting "Hamdok is weak but the streets are powerful" and "Burhan is dirty" and has been "brought to power by some", connected to Bashir's regime.
At one demonstration in Khartoum, protester Sediq al-Zubair said Hamdok's partnership with the military is a "stab in the back of the revolution" that ousted Bashir.
Another protester, Amany Abdalla, said "we have no problem with Hamdok" but "we don't want the military, we want a purely civilian" rule.
Ahead of Thursday's protests, Hamdok met with senior police officials and urged them to secure the protests.
Volker Perthes, the UN special envoy to Sudan who helped mediate between the military and civilian factions after the coup, said Wednesday that the rallies were "another test of credibility" of the agreement.
He urged authorities to allow demonstrations to go ahead "without bloodshed or arbitrary arrests".
Hamdok also said the agreement with Burhan has outlined a "clear date" for Sudan's first free elections in three decades slated for July 2023.
Sunday's deal raised hopes that Sudan will be able to return to its tenuous transition process but critics slammed the agreement as "whitewashing" the coup. About 12 out 17 ministers from Sudan's main civilian bloc calling for a full civilian rule, who were part of Hamdok's cabinet before the coup, resigned last Monday saying they rejected the deal which "legitimises the coup regime".
Meanwhile, the agreement was welcomed by the United Nations, African Union, Western countries as well as Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Several civilian leaders who were arrested since the coup were released this week but key figures have remained in detention.
Perthes welcomed the releases but said "if the 'political agreement' is to be taken seriously, all detainees should be released immediately". - Agencies
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