Death toll in Sudan Nov 13 protests rises to eight as girl (13) shot in head

The “excessive and unjustified violence” used by Sudan’s security forces to suppress Saturday’s Marches of the Millions in Khartoum has been widely condemned. The number of victims has risen to at least eight, as 13-year-old Remaz Hatem El Ata died after being shot in the head in front of her home on Saturday. The Central Committee of Sudan Doctors cay that there were at least 212 injuries during Saturday’s marches, of whom more than 100 received bullet wounds. At least 11 of them are still in critical condition in hospital.

In its report, the doctors’ committee indicated that Omar Abdallah Adam died of a neck injury at Royal Care Hospital on October 25, bringing the death toll since October 25 to 23. They say that Mujahid Farah (15), died on Sunday morning in East Nile Hospital, from bullet wounds to the abdomen and thigh.

The Socialist Doctors Association report that 122 people injured during the demonstrations in Khartoum on Saturday are being treated in El Arbaeen Hospital, Omdurman Teaching Hospital, East Nile Hospital, Royal Care Hospital, and Ibrahim Malik Hospital. Journalist Hamad Suleiman was wounded in the leg by a rubber bullet while covering the 13 November demonstrations.

The Legal Doctors Syndicate said that it had received testimonies from some of the hospitals where the victims of the November 13 marches are being treated that allege the bullets used to suppress demonstrators are of the expanding (dumdum) variety that are internationally prohibited for military use.

The police, however, deny using firearms in dealing with the demonstrators. The Khartoum police press office says they dealt with the demonstrations “with the legal use of tear gas and minimal force”.

In a statement, the office accused the demonstrators of attacking a number of police stations, which resulted in the injury of 39 policemen and noted the burning of a police vehicle belonging to the Police Press Department.

Video clips posted on social media however, documented scenes of police firing live ammunition and the use of excessive violence during the November 13 demonstrations.

Hospital protests

On Monday, the Coordination of Medical Staff organised protest vigils in front of a number of hospitals in Khartoum, Omdurman, Bahri, and state hospitals in rejection of the military coup. And condemning the violations that occurred on health facilities and field teams.

The Central Committee of Sudan Doctors say that on Monday, a security force stormed, Kassala Teaching Hospital, and prevented doctors and health staff from entering the hospital, in anticipation of vigils announced by the Coordination of Medical Staff.

The doctors’ committee says that the vigil was held in front of the hospital in Kassala despite the security presence. Witnesses told Radio Dabanga that two participants in the vigil were detained.

FFC: “Excessive and unjustified violence”

In a statement on Sunday, the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) – the main drivers of the revolution that overthrew the 30-year Al Bashir dictatorship in 2019 – condemned “the excessive and unjustified violence” with which the security forces faced the November 13 demonstrators.

The FFC warned all security forces against proceeding with raiding hospitals, attacking the injured and health personnel, firing live ammunition at peaceful demonstrators, and condemning the closure of roads and bridges, cutting off Internet service, deliberate interference with communications, and campaigns of detentions and frantic pursuit of members of the resistance committees and members of professional bodies. and unionism.

Hamza Baloul, Minister of Information in the transitional government of Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok’s government, who was briefly detained after the coup, said during his address to the November 13 demonstrators in Khartoum that “any coup participant will be held accountable and tried”, and that “there is no choice but the civil state, and no negotiation with the putschists”.

More than 10 professional associations and trade unions, including the Democratic Lawyers Alliance, condemned the violence practiced by the authorities in the face of the peaceful November 13 Marches of the Millions. The professionals also condemned the violence against doctors and health personnel in hospitals by the agencies and the attempt to discourage them from performing their duty.

They also condemned the hindering the transport of the wounded to health centres and hospitals, and preventing them from accessing them.

The associations emphasised the continuation of the revolutionary escalation until the fall of the putschists, and called on all professional and union bodies to engage in the declared revolutionary line, unify their word and align themselves with the rebellious masses.

The Sudanese Professionals Association described what happened in the November 13 million as a “new massacre” and considered it to amount to crimes against humanity punishable by Sudanese law and international covenants, and “we assure all participants that they are monitored and will be brought to prompt trials”.

Trade Unions Federations announced a two-day strike in support of the civil disobedience announced by the revolutionary forces. The assembly condemned the killings, attacks on hospitals and preventing ambulances from moving, saying that they amount to crimes against humanity. They are crimes against humanity that our people will not forgive.