An officer of the secret police in Khartoum admitted today, Thursday, in court that he received orders from the police high command to fire on demonstrators with live ammunition.<\/p>\n
Sergeant Hafiz Mohamed Abdallah confirmed to the judges of Haj Yousif Court that he had to use live bullets to quell the protests against the hike of fuel prices. According to doctors, about 210 people were killed during the demonstrations over the past few days. The secret agent confirmed the accusation that police officers dressed in civil clothes fired on people with live ammunition.<\/p>\n
Agents had to testify during the trial of 35 demonstrators accused of violence, sabotage and assault acts on public and private property. One of the defence lawyers, Mutasim al Haj, told Radio Dabanga that the judge interrogated the secret agents: \u201cTheir testimony was extremely important. It was the first time that they officially acknowledged that the police high command ordered the shootings\u201d.<\/p>\n
Al Haj is member of a team of 12 lawyers defending the arrested demonstrators. The court set bail for the detainees at SDG20,000 ($5,000).<\/p>\n
The remarks in court contradicted a report provided by the Minister of the Interior, Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid. He repeated earlier remarks that the police did not stop any demonstration, but were just hunting for criminals. In a report to the Council of Ministers he blamed ‘certain groups’ of being responsible for the uprising.<\/p>\n
He told the media after the meeting of the Council of Ministers that 42 fuel stations were destroyed, nine pharmacies have been damaged, more than 40 buses were destroyed and two companies, five banks and two government buildings were attacked.<\/p>\n
The Minister indicated that some money was stolen, adding that most of it has been recovered. The angry mob also destroyed eight police centres, 81 smaller police road cabins, and 35 police cars were torched. The government is adhering to its account of 34 people killed, including one police officer.<\/p>\n
‘No one killed by police’<\/strong><\/p>\n The governor of Khartoum, Abdul Rahman Al Khidir, flatly denied that any of these people were shot. He said after the cabinet meeting: \u201cPolice forces have never used firearms. All of the 35 people who were killed, were killed by criminal hands\u201d.<\/p>\n One of the leaders of the opposition National Consensus Forces, Alshafee Khidir, called the report of the top government officials “a fabrication; a complete forgery”.<\/p>\n Speaking to Radio Dabanga he said: \u201cIf it is true that criminals have access in our city to kill people, it will make the police responsible for insecurity. The Minister should immediately step down, since he is in charge. If the governor says it was criminal hands that killed the demonstrators, I fully agree; but they were all government hands.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n