Sudan: Authorities launch investigation into Thursday's clashes

The Sudanese Public Prosecution opened an investigation on Friday into the clashes that broke out between police forces and protesters on Thursday in the capital of Khartoum, after the police fired tear gas to disperse the demonstrators who demanded restructuring the armed forces and reintegrating the dismissed pro-revolution officers. The clashes resulted in the injuries of 53 demonstrators.

“In compliance with our constitutional obligations, we will not close our eyes to what happened without launching an investigation,” announced Attorney General Taj Al-Sir Ali Al-Hebr in a statement, adding: “We will take the necessary measures in accordance with the law, and we call on citizens to adhere to the principle of peaceful protest and the safety of the citizen and the nation,” reported Anadolu Agency.

Al-Hebr explained that he requested the submission of all the reports relating to the Thursday clashes, in order to issue directives that preserve the right to peaceful protest and to extend the rule of law.

The Sudanese Communist Party have demanded clarification from the police department regarding the circumstances of the Thursday events, considering what happened as a clear violation of what was stated in the constitutional document regulating the transitional phase, which emphasised respect for the right to peaceful protest.

Sudan: Thousands of demonstrators demand restructuring military establishment

Following the clashes, the Forces for the Declaration of Freedom and Change (FFC), which currently share power with the army, called for holding the security personnel, who escalated violence against the demonstrators in Khartoum, responsible and trying them.

The demonstrators who took to the streets on Thursday called for restructuring the military establishment, removing former regime elements from the army, dismantling militias, forming a national army and reintegrating all the officers who were excluded from military service.

On 21 August, 2019, Sudan initiated a 39-month transitional period that ends with the elections, during which power is shared between the army and the FFC, which led the protest movement that toppled former Sudanese president, Omar Al-Bashir, in April of the same year.

Read: Al-Bashir’s trial at the ICC will be a victory for the popular revolution