Scores injured in Sudan protests: Medics

KHARTOUM, Sudan

Scores were injured during Saturday’s protests demanding full civilian rule in Sudan, according to local medics on Sunday.

Thousands took to the streets in the capital Khartoum and several Sudanese cities on Saturday to demand the handover of power to civilians.

Demonstrators attempted to stage a sit-in near the presidential palace in Khartoum, but Sudanese security forces used tear gas canisters to disperse the rallies.

In a brief statement, the independent Central Doctors Committee said 178 protesters were injured during the protests, including eight by live ammunition.

“Three injured protesters were in unstable condition,” the statement said, without giving any further details.

There was no comment from the Sudanese authorities on the statement.

Sudan has been in turmoil since Oct. 25 when the Sudanese military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok's transitional government and declared a state of emergency.

Hamdok, however, was reinstated on Nov. 21 under an agreement with Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the Sudanese army chief, in a move rejected by Sudanese political and civil forces as an “attempt to legitimize the coup."

Before the military takeover, Sudan was administered by a sovereign council of military and civilian officials overseeing the transition period until elections in 2023 as part of a precarious power-sharing pact between the military and the Forces of Freedom and Change coalition.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara