Sudan: death toll rises after new protests

By Francesca Merlo

Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets all across Sudan on Sunday calling for civilian rule nearly three months after the army forced out long-ruling President Omar al-Bashir.
The marches filled the streets in the first protest since 100 peaceful demonstrators were killed in early June when they set up a sit-in camp outside the military headquarters in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital city.

Military attempts to break up the march, dubbed as the “millions march” left at least seven people dead and over 180 more injured.

The Sudanese marched as a result of the months-long struggle to urge the country’s ruling generals to hand over power to a civilian-led administration, as well as an attempt to seek justice for all those who were killed and injured during the June crackdown.

It all started as a protest against soaring bread prices (a government attempt at ending the bread shortages). Nevertheless, what started as living condition protests soon turned into anti-government demonstrations, as citizens began demanding the removal of President al-Bashir.

On April 11th, al-Bashir was removed by the military, which set up a council to rule the country. Demonstrators, however, were not satisfied with this removal and replacement as they believed that the military were involved in causing the problems that lead to the initial demonstrations. They have since continued with protests, demanding that power be handed over to civilian rule.

After six months of protests, the death toll is over 210, bodies have been pulled out of the river, as allegations of human rights abuses carried out by the military abound.