CAIRO: Nearly 200 people have been wounded in the latest protests to erupt in the Sudanese capital over deteriorating economic conditions following a military take-over, a doctor’s union said on Friday.
The Sudan’s Doctors Committee issued a statement saying that 187 people were wounded in clashes with police in Khartoum on Thursday, 70 of whom were likely struck by rubber bullets.
Three of the wounded were shot in either the head or chest and are currently in intensive care, it added.
Riot police used tear gas to disperse thousands of protesters who had sought to reach the Republican Palace, seat of the military government.
Videos posted on social media showed police firing tear gas.
Thursday’s marches were the latest in near-daily street protests since the military took over on Oct. 25, removing a civilian-led transitional government.
Since then, at least 87 people have been killed and thousands wounded in a bloody crackdown on protesters, according to the doctor’s union.
Sudan has been facing a dire economic situation since the October military takeover.
FASTFACT
The inflation rate reached nearly 260 percent in February, according to Sudan’s census agency.
On Wednesday, the state-owned news agency SUNA reported that the inflation rate reached nearly 260 percent in February, quoting the country’s census agency.
Earlier this month, the country’s Central Bank floated the Sudanese pound — a move expected to result in a swift increase in prices.
The ruling generals have been struggling to stabilize the country. Their coup has upended Sudan’s democratic transition after a popular uprising forced the military to remove former President Omar Bashir in April 2019.
Following the military takeover, Western governments and world financial institutions suspended their assistance to Sudan in order to pressure the generals to return a civilian-led government.
Sudan has for years struggled with an array of economic woes, including a huge budget deficit and widespread shortages of essential goods and soaring prices of bread and other staples.
The country descended into economic crisis when the south seceded in 2011 after decades of war, taking with it more than half of public revenues and 95 percent of exports.
Thursday’s rallies were called by the Sudanese Professionals Association and the Resistance Committees, which have been the backbone of the uprising against Bashir and relentless anti-coup protests in the past three months. Protesters also chanted slogans against Sudan’s top military ruler Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan.
“The existing regime has no legitimacy. The Sudanese people want a national, civilian and democratic government,” said Hussein Al-Safy, who was at the protest.
