Security forces storm Sudan protests, killing 13

Sudanese protester near Khartoum&#039;s army headquarters.

(Image credit: EBRAHIM HAMID/AFP/Getty Images)

published 3 June 2019

The months-long protests in Sudan took a violent turn on Monday, when paramilitary security forces stormed a protest camp in the country's capital, Khartoum, killing 13 in the process. Several more were wounded in the raid, which Al Jazeera reports is ongoing.

The soldiers, who are reportedly heavily armed, allegedly first used tear gas and sound grenades to disperse the protesters before firing live rounds. They reportedly now have control of most of the camp and the protesters, who described the situation as a "massacre" have mostly left the area.

The protests were a continuation of a call for a civilian government after earlier rounds of protests forced long-time former autocratic President Omar Al-Bashir from power after 30 years. The protesters and the military council which succeeded Al-Bashir had been in negotiations for weeks over the country's future, but talks stalled over what Al Jazeera reports is the makeup of a so-called "sovereign council," which would govern the country for the next three years before democratic elections. The military reportedly would have let the protesters form a government, but insisted on maintaining ultimate authority, while the protesters wanted a civilian-led government, Al Jazeera reports.

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Monday's violence has resulted in global condemnation and calls for restraint. The U.S. embassy urged the security forces to halt the attack, the African Union called for an investigation into the deaths, and the U.N.'s General Secretary Antonio Guterres "strongly condemned" what he considers excessive force. The military council has denied trying disperse the sit-in, saying only that the security forces, which formed under Al-Bashir, were targeting "unruly" groups nearby. Read more at Al Jazeera.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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