Sudanese: Shots fired at mourners

Forces also used tear gas in attack on funeral march, activists say

KHARTOUM, Sudan - Sudanese security forces in pickups opened fire Saturday on hundreds of mourners marching after the funeral of a protester killed a day earlier, the latest violence in a week of demonstrations calling for the ouster of longtime President Omar al-Bashir.

Three female protesters said dozens of pickups and security forces surrounded them in a main street in the capital of Khartoum before firing tear gas and live ammunition.

It was not possible to independently verify their accounts, but Sudanese activists and international rights groups say government security forces have routinely used live fire against protesters, often aimed at the head and torso.

The violent crackdown that aims to quash Sudan’s most extensive street demonstrations in two decades could now be propelling them, activists said.

“The excessive use of force means that the regime is becoming bare of any political cover, and it is declaring a war against its own people,” said Khaled Omar, a member of the Change Now youth movement, one of the groups calling for protests. “This will backfire internally, inside the regime itself and cause cracks within and lead to its collapse.”

The protests, which started last Sunday night, were initially triggered by the lifting of fuel and wheat subsidies. But demands have escalated to call for the resignation of al-Bashir, who has ruled for 24 years.

“The cars came from the back and the front while we were marching in the street,” another female protester said. “The tear gas was very strong. The people fled trying to escape, taking shelter inside homes,” she added.

Earlier in the day, women, crying and hugging, blocked a street to prevent police from deploying to the funeral of 26-year-old pharmacist Salah al-Sanhouri. His family said he was shot outside his pharmacy as a march went by Friday, on the same street where the protest came under attack again Saturday.

Amnesty International and the African Center for Justice and Peace Studies have accused the government of using a “shoot to kill” policy against protesters, saying they had documented 50 deaths in rioting Tuesday and Wednesday alone.

Youth activists and doctors at a Khartoum hospital said at least 100 people have been killed since Monday. Sudanese police have reported at least 30 deaths nationwide, including policemen. Official statements have often blamed unknown gunmen for attacking protesters.

“Repression is not the answer to Sudan’s political and economic problems,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch, in a statement Saturday. “Sudan’s authorities need to rein in the security forces and make it clear that using excessive force is not allowed,” he added.

Activists have begun to compile pictures, names and personal details of each protester killed.

The government appears to be trying to impose a media blackout. Gulf-based satellite broadcasters Sky News Arabia and Al-Arabiya said their Khartoum offices were ordered by the government to shut down. Sudanese news outlets online have reported photographers and cameramen were barred from covering the protests, while editors have said they were ordered to describe protesters as “ saboteurs.”

The unrest began early last week in the town of Wad Madani, south of Khartoum, when al-Bashir announced the subsidy cuts. It quickly spread to at least nine districts in Khartoum and seven cities across the country.

Protesters say austerity measures hit the poor particularly hard but leave intact a corrupt system where senior officials grow wealthy. “This is a government of thieves who looted the country andstarved us,” the slain pharmacist’s uncle said. He refused to give his name for fear of reprisals.

Although he maintains a strong grip on power, al-Bashir has been increasingly beleaguered. The economy has worsened, especially after South Sudan broke off and became an independent state in 2011, taking Sudan’s main oil-producing territory. Armed secessionist groups operate in several parts of the country. And al-Bashir, who came to power as head of a military-Islamist regime after a 1989 coup, is wanted by the International Criminal Court on purported crimes in Sudan’s western region of Darfur.

Also on Saturday, Sudanese media reported that the Foreign Ministry summoned the U.S. charge d’affaires in Khartoum to protest Washington’s refusal to grant a visa to al-Bashir.

Al-Bashir requested the visa to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Foreign Ministry spokesman Abu Bakr Al-Sadek said Saturday that the U.S. refusal was a “blatant violation of its commitments as a host country” of the U.N.

A U.S. official said Friday that the visa application was still pending.

Information for this article was contributed by staff members of The Associated Press.

Front Section, Pages 14 on 09/29/2013

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