Hundreds protest in Sudan city against killing of schoolchildren

Hundreds of protesters demonstrated against the killing of six demonstrators, five of which were children, chanting revolutionary slogans that have rocked the country for months.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab & agencies

31 July, 2019

Demonstrators protest against fatal shooting that left five child protesters dead in Al-Obeid [Anadolu/Getty]

Hundreds of protesters marched through the streets of a central Sudanese city Wednesday, denouncing the killing of six demonstrators there, including schoolchildren, at a rally this week.

"Blood for blood, we don't want compensation," chanted men and women as they marched in Al-Obeid where the killings took place on Monday.

Many carried Sudanese flags and some held photographs of those killed as they gathered in the downtown area, after marching through several parts of the city, an AFP correspondent reported.

"It is unacceptable that young people are being killed," said protester Fatima Mohamed as behind her crowds chanted revolutionary slogans that have rocked the country for months.

"These schoolchildren were chanting only slogans. Why were they shot with bullets? Those who committed these crimes must be brought to justice," she said.

Sudanese authorities ordered all schools nationwide to suspend classes indefinitely on Tuesday, following the shooting.

Comment: Sudan's revolutionaries must remove Hemedti by any means necessary

The move came after Sudanese protest leaders cancelled planned talks with the country's ruling generals during a vist to the town where the five protestors were killed.

Tragedy struck the city on Monday when six people, including five secondary school pupils, were shot dead at a rally against a growing shortage of bread and fuel in the city.

Demonstrators accused the feared paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces of killing the teenagers.

"This bloodshed must stop," said Amnesty International's Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes, Joan Nyanyuki.

"The decision to close schools underlines the failure of the Sudanese authorities to contain or direct the Rapid Support Forces, who have time and again used firearms on peaceful protestors across Sudan."

It was a sudden tripling of the price of bread in December that sparked the mushrooming protests that led to the toppling of longtime president Omar al-Bashir by the army in April.

Al-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state some 350 kilometres (220 miles) southwest of Khartoum, remained largely quiet during the long months of demonstrations.