Nine demonstrators were killed Thursday, June 30 in Khartoum where tens of thousands of Sudanese marched to the cry of "the people want the fall of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane", the head of the army author of a putsch which has plunged the country into violence and a serious economic crisis in October.

If every week the Sudanese demonstrate to demand that power be returned to civilians, Thursday is the deadliest day in months and one of the most mobilized.

Nine demonstrators were shot dead by the security forces, at least seven - including a minor - by bullets fired in particular "in the chest" or "the head", reported doctors, also denouncing the firing of tear gas canisters at the interior of hospitals.

As of Wednesday evening, while small processions called here and there the Sudanese to march, a young demonstrator had been killed by a "bullet in the chest" in Khartoum, according to these doctors.

Since the October 25, 2021 coup, 112 protesters have been killed and thousands more injured by security forces who, according to the UN, regularly fire live ammunition into crowds.

"Even if we must all die, the military will not rule us," chanted the crowd on Thursday, while the civilian bloc of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FLC) believed that "as expected, the putschists unleashed their violence " .

Before adding: "Thursday's parades proved that the revolution is not dead".

Eight months after the coup that plunged one of the world's poorest countries into the doldrums, protesters continue to demand that the army return power to civilians.

Internet cut

June 30 is a symbolic day for this great East African country: it marks the anniversary of the coup that brought dictator Omar al-Bashir to power in 1989. It is also in June 2019 that monster rallies took place that pushed the generals to integrate civilians into power after dismissing Bashir.

The demonstrators therefore want to repeat this feat and force the military to hand over the reins of the country to civilians.

As with every call to demonstrate, the Internet and the telephone were inaccessible all day before being partly restored again in the evening when certain processions scattered, while the main roads were squared by the security forces, have observed by AFP journalists.

In addition to Khartoum and its suburbs, demonstrators also demonstrated in Wad Madani (south), in Darfur (west) and in several towns on the eastern coast, witnesses reported.

Before the demonstrations, the UN envoy Volker Perthes had hammered that "the violence must stop" and several embassies had demanded that "no more lives be lost".

But foreign capitals are struggling to put pressure on generals who have been in power in Sudan almost continuously since independence in 1956.

With AFP

The summary of the

France 24 week invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 app

google-play-badge_EN