Sudan Security Forces Fire Tear Gas at Anti-coup Protesters

People protests against the October military coup and subsequent deal that reinstated Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, Dec. 13, 2021. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)
People protests against the October military coup and subsequent deal that reinstated Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, Dec. 13, 2021. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)
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Sudan Security Forces Fire Tear Gas at Anti-coup Protesters

People protests against the October military coup and subsequent deal that reinstated Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, Dec. 13, 2021. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)
People protests against the October military coup and subsequent deal that reinstated Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, Dec. 13, 2021. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)

Security forces fired tear gas Monday to disperse protesters in Sudan’s capital in the latest street demonstrations against the October military coup and subsequent deal that reinstated deposed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

Thousands of people took to the streets in Khartoum and other Sudanese cities as part of relentless demonstrations that have engulfed the country since the military seized power on Oct. 25.

The coup upended a fragile planned transition to democratic rule more than two years after a popular uprising forced the removal of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir and his Islamist government in April 2019.

Hamdok was reinstated last month amid international pressure in a deal that calls for an independent technocratic Cabinet under military oversight led by him. The agreement included the release of government officials and politicians detained since the coup.

The Nov. 21 deal, however, was rejected by the pro-democracy movement, which insists power be handed over to a civilian government to lead the transition. Their protests follow the slogan: “No negotiations, no compromise, no power-sharing” with the military, AFP reported.

Footage circulated on social media Monday purportedly showed demonstrators marching in different locations in Khartoum and its sister city Omdurman. One video showed thousands of protesters in Khartoum’s district of Bahri, many of them waving Sudanese flags.

Activist Nazim Sirag said security forces used tear gas to disperse people marching in a street near the presidential palace in Khartoum. Protesters were seen in online videos throwing tear gas canisters back at forces.

The US Embassy in Khartoum said in a tweet: “We stand with the Sudanese people as they seek freedom, peace, and justice in today’s demonstrations, and welcome their government’s commitment to protection of peaceful protesters.”

Monday’s protests were called by the Sudanese Professionals Association and the so-called Resistance Committees, which spearheaded the uprising against al-Bashir and then the military coup. The protests came a few days ahead of the third anniversary of the start of the uprising against al-Bashir.

In past rounds of demonstrations security forces used violence, including firing live ammunition at protesters, according to activists. At least 44 people were killed and hundreds wounded in protests triggered by the coup.

The protests have increased pressure on the military and Hamdok, who has yet to announce his Cabinet. The prime minister on Sunday appointed new acting governors of the country’s provinces to replace those named by coup leader Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the ruling Sovereign Council, after the coup.



Netanyahu Denounces Tactical Pauses in Gaza Fighting to Get in Aid

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) attends the Knesset plenum vote on the ultra-Orthodox conscription to military service law, in the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, 10 June 2024. (EPA)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) attends the Knesset plenum vote on the ultra-Orthodox conscription to military service law, in the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, 10 June 2024. (EPA)
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Netanyahu Denounces Tactical Pauses in Gaza Fighting to Get in Aid

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) attends the Knesset plenum vote on the ultra-Orthodox conscription to military service law, in the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, 10 June 2024. (EPA)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) attends the Knesset plenum vote on the ultra-Orthodox conscription to military service law, in the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, 10 June 2024. (EPA)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized plans announced by the military on Sunday to hold daily tactical pauses in fighting along one of the main roads into Gaza to facilitate aid delivery into the Palestinian enclave.

The military had announced the daily pauses from 0500 GMT until 1600 GMT in the area from the Kerem Shalom Crossing to the Salah al-Din Road and then northwards.

"When the prime minister heard the reports of an 11-hour humanitarian pause in the morning, he turned to his military secretary and made it clear that this was unacceptable to him," an Israeli official said.

The military clarified that normal operations would continue in Rafah, the main focus of its operation in southern Gaza, where eight soldiers were killed on Saturday.

The reaction from Netanyahu underlined political tensions over the issue of aid coming into Gaza, where international organizations have warned of a growing humanitarian crisis.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who leads one of the nationalist religious parties in Netanyahu's ruling coalition, denounced the idea of a tactical pause, saying whoever decided it was a "fool" who should lose their job.

DIVISIONS BETWEEN COALITION, ARMY

The spat was the latest in a series of clashes between members of the coalition and the military over the conduct of the war, now in its ninth month.

It came a week after centrist former general Benny Gantz quit the government, accusing Netanyahu of having no effective strategy in Gaza.

The divisions were laid bare last week in a parliamentary vote on a law on conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military, with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant voting against it in defiance of party orders, saying it was insufficient for the needs of the military.

Religious parties in the coalition have strongly opposed conscription for the ultra-Orthodox, drawing widespread anger from many Israelis, which has deepened as the war has gone on.

Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi, the head of the military, said on Sunday there was a "definite need" to recruit more soldiers from the fast-growing ultra-Orthodox community.

RESERVISTS UNDER STRAIN

Despite growing international pressure for a ceasefire, an agreement to halt the fighting still appears distant, more than eight months since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas fighters on Israel triggered a ground assault on the enclave by Israeli forces.

Since the attack, which killed some 1,200 Israelis and foreigners in Israeli communities, Israel's military campaign has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health ministry figures, and destroyed much of Gaza.

Although opinion polls suggest most Israelis support the government's aim of destroying Hamas, there have been widespread protests attacking the government for not doing more to bring home around 120 hostages who are still in Gaza after being taken hostage on Oct. 7.

Meanwhile, Palestinian health officials said seven Palestinians were killed in two air strikes on two houses in Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza Strip.

As fighting in Gaza has continued, a lower level conflict across the Israel-Lebanon border is now threatening to spiral into a wider war as near-daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia have escalated.

In a further sign that fighting in Gaza could drag on, Netanyahu's government said on Sunday it was extending until Aug. 15 the period it would fund hotels and guest houses for residents evacuated from southern Israeli border towns.