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Sudan health ministry warns of scale of repression of protesters

December 31, 2021 at 1:02 pm

Sudan’s Security forces fire tear gas at protesters marching to the Presidential Palace during a demonstration demanding civilian rule in Khartoum, Sudan on December 25, 2021 [Mahmoud Hjaj / Anadolu Agency]

The Sudanese Ministry of Health yesterday warned of the magnitude of repression exercised by security forces against anti-military rule protests especially in the city of Omdurman, west of the capital, saying it had “exceeded all imagination”, Anadolu reported.

The ministry said security forces have prevented ambulances from reaching wounded protesters or transporting them to hospitals.

It went on to call on all doctors and health professionals to come to Al-Arbaeen Hospital in Omdurman, saying medical staff there are unable to treat all the patients due to the scale of their injuries. It gave no details about the number of those injured or what treatment they required.

The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors said yesterday  that four protesters were shot dead by security forces, at least three of them in Omdurman, Reuters reported.

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The agency said security forces fired tear gas and stun grenades as protesters marched through Khartoum and the neighbouring cities of Omdurman and Bahri towards the presidential palace.

Al-Hadath TV quoted an adviser to military leader Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan as saying the military would not allow anyone to pull the country into chaos and that continued protests were a “physical, psychological, and mental drain on the country” and “would not achieve a political solution”.

Yesterday’s protests were the 11th round of major demonstrations since the 25 October coup which saw Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok removed and then reinstated. The demonstrators have demanded that the military play no role in government during a transition to free elections.