15 shot in anti-coup protests in Sudan

KHARTOUM, November 18

Security forces shot dead at least 15 persons and wounded several others as thousands of Sudanese took to the streets on Wednesday on the deadliest day in a month of demonstrations against military rule, medics said.

The protesters, marching against an October 25 coup across the capital Khartoum and in the cities of Bahri and Omdurman, demanded a full handover to civilian authorities and for the leaders of the coup to be put on trial.

Security forces fired live rounds and tear gas to prevent gatherings in all three cities, and mobile phone communications were cut, witnesses said. State television said there were injuries among protesters and police.

“The coup forces used live bullets heavily in different areas of the capital and there are tens of gunshot injuries, some of them in serious condition,” said the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors, a group aligned with the protest movement. Deaths were concentrated in Bahri, they said. Military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has said peaceful protests are allowed and the military does not kill protesters. — Reuters