A protester was shot dead in Sudan on Thursday during a mass demonstration to demand a transition to civilian rule after a coup and the resignation of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.
The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors, part of the pro-democracy movement, said the yet-to-be-identified protester took a “live bullet to the head by the putschist forces as he took part in demonstrations.”
The incident happened in the capital’s twin city of Omdurman.
A total of 58 people have been killed since the military coup on October 25, the committee said.
A day before the protester was killed, US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, had appealed via Twitter for Sudanese security forces to “cease using lethal force against demonstrators.”
Witnesses and social media accounts say many protesters in Khartoum were seen wounded and struggling with breathing difficulties due to the heavy firing of tear gas.
According to their reports, crowds were marching towards the presidential palace in Khartoum when security forces fired volleys of tear gas that formed thick and choking clouds.
Hundreds have also been wounded in a security forces crackdown that has accompanied the military takeover, one of several in Sudan’s post-independence history.
Tyres were also set on fire to form burning barricades in the streets by demonstrators.
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s power grab two months ago destroyed a precarious power-sharing arrangement between the military and civilians established following the ouster of Omar al-Bashir in April 2019.
Protests on Thursday took place just days after Abdalla Hamdok resigned as prime minister, leaving the military in full control. In the weeks following the coup, Hamdock was held under house arrest until he was reinstated in a deal reached on November 21.
Demonstrators called the November pact a “betrayal” for providing what they said was legitimacy for Burhan’s coup, and kept up protests.
Hamdok stepped down on Sunday, saying Sudan was at a “dangerous crossroads.”