5 protesters killed in Sudan

KHARTOUM, Dec. 31 (YPA) –  The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors said on Friday that the death toll from the police crackdown on protests that took place on Thursday in the country against military rule has risen to five.

The committee added that the fifth person who was killed was hit by a tear gas canister in the chest fired by security forces during Thursday’s protests.

The protests are the eleventh round of massive demonstrations since the October 25 coup that saw Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok ousted before being reinstated.

The Sudan Doctors Committee said the total number of people killed since the security forces began their campaign in October has now risen to 53.

The demonstrators are demanding that the army not have a role in the government during a transitional period that ends with free elections.

The police had said in a statement on Friday that four people were killed in Omdurman and 297 demonstrators and 49 members of the police force were wounded in nationwide demonstrations against the military rule on Thursday, in which tens of thousands participated.

E.M