Sudan’s Transitional Military Council (TMC) said in a statement on Monday (June 3), read by a news anchor on Sudan TV, that it expresses its sorrow for the way events have escalated, and that it is renewing its invitation for negotiation with civilians.
Reading the written statement, a Sudanese TV news anchor also said that “losses and injuries” were a result of the security forces trying to clear up an area characterized by “unlawful activities”, where after chasing the “trouble maker and petty criminals”, they made their way to the sit-in square.
Security forces stormed a protest camp in the Sudanese capital on Monday (June 3) morning and at least thirty people were reported killed in the worst violence since the overthrow of President Omar al-Bashir in April.
The main protest group accused the ruling military council of trying to break up the camp, calling the action “a massacre.” But the council said the security forces had targeted criminals in an adjacent area.
An alliance of protest and opposition groups said it was halting all contact with the military council. The two sides had been negotiating for weeks over who should govern in a transitional period following the overthrow of Bashir but the talks had become deadlocked.
The Transitional Military Council (TMC) had offered to let protesters form a government but insists on maintaining overall authority during an interim period. The demonstrators want civilians to run the transitional period and lead Sudan’s 40 million people to democracy.