Protester Shot Dead in Sudan Rallies after State of Emergency Lifted

Sudanese demonstrators pray before taking the streets in Khartoum on June 3, 2022 to demand justice for scores of pro-democracy protesters killed during the suppression of a 2019 sit-in against now ousted leader Omar al-Bashir. (AFP)
Sudanese demonstrators pray before taking the streets in Khartoum on June 3, 2022 to demand justice for scores of pro-democracy protesters killed during the suppression of a 2019 sit-in against now ousted leader Omar al-Bashir. (AFP)
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Protester Shot Dead in Sudan Rallies after State of Emergency Lifted

Sudanese demonstrators pray before taking the streets in Khartoum on June 3, 2022 to demand justice for scores of pro-democracy protesters killed during the suppression of a 2019 sit-in against now ousted leader Omar al-Bashir. (AFP)
Sudanese demonstrators pray before taking the streets in Khartoum on June 3, 2022 to demand justice for scores of pro-democracy protesters killed during the suppression of a 2019 sit-in against now ousted leader Omar al-Bashir. (AFP)

A protester died from a gunshot wound in the chest in Sudan's capital Khartoum on Friday, medics said, as demonstrators rallied across the country less than a week after military rulers lifted a state of emergency.

The protests marked the third anniversary of a deadly raid on a sit-in calling for civilian rule shortly after the overthrow of long-time leader Omar al-Bashir.

The military and civilian groups agreed to share power in the summer of 2019, but that arrangement was ended by a coup last October.

There have been frequent anti-military rallies ever since.

"Protests will continue until we win justice for our martyrs and democratic rule," said Osama Mohamed, a 24-year-old marching across the Nile from Khartoum in Omdurman, where protesters blocked a main intersection and faced tear gas from security forces.

Protesters blame security forces for killing about 130 people in the June 3, 2019, raid as they cleared a sit-in in central Khartoum, based on a toll calculated by medics. Authorities acknowledge 87 deaths.

A committee investigating the incident has paused its activity since the coup, a member told Reuters.

Protesters in Omdurman on Friday chanted "our martyrs haven't died, they are here with the revolutionaries". They carried photos and banners of protesters who died in the raid.

The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors said the protester who died on Friday was killed as security forces used heavy gunfire against rallies in Khartoum's Sahafa district.

There was no immediate comment from police. Authorities have previously said they allow peaceful protests and casualties will be investigated.

Medics say 99 people have been killed in anti-coup protests.

United Nations and African Union-led efforts to broker political mediation have made little progress, with a new round of talks to begin next week.

Military rulers facing an economic crisis say they lifted the state of emergency as a trust-building measure.



With Nowhere Else to Hide, Gazans Shelter in Former Prison

24 July 2024, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Displaced Palestinians stay in Asda prison in Khan Younis after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes in the towns of Abasan, Bani Suhaila, Ma'an, Al-Zana and a number of other villages, amid Israel-Hamas conflict. (dpa)
24 July 2024, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Displaced Palestinians stay in Asda prison in Khan Younis after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes in the towns of Abasan, Bani Suhaila, Ma'an, Al-Zana and a number of other villages, amid Israel-Hamas conflict. (dpa)
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With Nowhere Else to Hide, Gazans Shelter in Former Prison

24 July 2024, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Displaced Palestinians stay in Asda prison in Khan Younis after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes in the towns of Abasan, Bani Suhaila, Ma'an, Al-Zana and a number of other villages, amid Israel-Hamas conflict. (dpa)
24 July 2024, Palestinian Territories, Khan Younis: Displaced Palestinians stay in Asda prison in Khan Younis after the Israeli army ordered them to leave their homes in the towns of Abasan, Bani Suhaila, Ma'an, Al-Zana and a number of other villages, amid Israel-Hamas conflict. (dpa)

After weeks of Israeli bombardment left them with nowhere else to go, hundreds of Palestinians have ended up in a former Gaza prison built to hold murderers and thieves.

Yasmeen al-Dardasi said she and her family passed wounded people they were unable to help as they evacuated from a district in the southern city of Khan Younis towards its Central Correction and Rehabilitation Facility.

They spent a day under a tree before moving on to the former prison, where they now live in a prayer room. It offers protection from the blistering sun, but not much else.

Dardasi's husband has a damaged kidney and just one lung, but no mattress or blanket.

"We are not settled here either," said Dardasi, who like many Palestinians fears she will be uprooted once again.

Israel has said it goes out of its way to protect civilians in its war with the Palestinian group Hamas, which runs Gaza and led the attack on Israel on Oct. 7 that sparked the latest conflict.

Palestinians, many of whom have been displaced several times, say nowhere is free of Israeli bombardment, which has reduced much of Gaza to rubble.

An Israeli air strike killed at least 90 Palestinians in a designated humanitarian zone in the Al-Mawasi area on July 13, the territory's health ministry said, in an attack that Israel said targeted Hamas' elusive military chief Mohammed Deif.

On Thursday, Gaza's health ministry said Israeli military strikes on areas in eastern Khan Younis had killed 14 people.

Entire neighborhoods have been flattened in one of the most densely populated places in the world, where poverty and unemployment have long been widespread.

According to the United Nations, nine in ten people across Gaza are now internally displaced.

Israeli soldiers told Saria Abu Mustafa and her family that they should flee for safety as tanks were on their way, she said. The family had no time to change so they left in their prayer clothes.

After sleeping outside on sandy ground, they too found refuge in the prison, among piles of rubble and gaping holes in buildings from the battles which were fought there. Inmates had been released long before Israel attacked.

"We didn't take anything with us. We came here on foot, with children walking with us," she said, adding that many of the women had five or six children with them and that water was hard to find.

She held her niece, who was born during the conflict, which has killed her father and brothers.

When Hamas-led gunmen burst into southern Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7 they killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 people hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in the air and ground offensive Israel launched in response, Palestinian health officials say.

Hana Al-Sayed Abu Mustafa arrived at the prison after being displaced six times.

If Egyptian, US and Qatari mediators fail to secure a ceasefire they have long said is close, she and other Palestinians may be on the move once again. "Where should we go? All the places that we go to are dangerous," she said.