Tag Archive for: coup

Protesters face tear gas and bullets to oppose Sudan coup

/in


  • Protests follow appointment of new ruling council
  • Coup last month upended post-Bashir transition
  • Western states have condemned military takeover

KHARTOUM, Nov 13 (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in the Sudanese capital Khartoum and other cities on Saturday to protest against a military takeover, despite security forces firing tear gas and bullets to disperse them, witnesses and medics said.

One protester was killed by live fire from security forces in Omdurman, across the Nile from central Khartoum, and many others were wounded, the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors said.

The demonstrations come two days after military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan announced the formation of a new ruling council that excludes the civilian coalition the military had been sharing power with since 2019.

Sudanese pro-democracy groups condemned the move and vowed to continue their campaign of civil disobedience and protests against the Oct. 25 coup.

Security forces closed bridges on Saturday between central Khartoum and its twin cities of Omdurman and Khartoum North to vehicles and pedestrians, laying barbed wire to block access. Roads to strategic sites were also shut.

As protesters began to gather in the early afternoon around the capital, security forces moved quickly to try to disperse them, firing tear gas and chasing demonstrators down side streets to try to prevent them reaching central meeting points, witnesses said.

“People were surprised that they fired the tear gas so early,” said one protester in Omdurman. Protesters “retreated into the neighbourhood and barricaded the streets and now they’re coming back to the main road.”

Witnesses estimated the number of protesters around Khartoum to be in the tens of thousands.

During previous rallies, including on Oct. 30 when hundreds of thousands turned out, security forces had waited until later in the day before trying to disperse protesters.

The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors, which is aligned with the protest movement, said demonstrations were “facing excessive repression using all forms of force including live bullets in several areas of the capital Khartoum”.

There was no immediate comment from security forces, but…

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The peaceful transition of power has failed. This was the coup.

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Rioters carrying Trump flags break through Capitol doors
A pro-Trump mob breaks into the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.
Win McNamee/Getty Images

There will not be a peaceful transition of power between the 45th and 46th American presidents. The country’s leaders and its leading institutions—the traditional ones, not the Trump ones—spent four years promising that transition, despite everything Donald Trump might say to the contrary. It was the safe, secure alternative to other, more confrontational courses of action, the fallback plan when congressional subpoenas, judicial oversight, and even impeachment turned out to be toothless: Let the voters decide, trust the Constitution, and this will pass.

No matter how this administration eventually gives way to the next one, the promise of a peaceful transition has already failed. It failed on live video, over the course of hours. The president told his supporters he would never accept the results of the election he lost, he urged them to go to the Capitol to support him, and they complied. Trump’s loyalists stormed in on the official counting of the electoral votes, forcing the legislators to break it off, hide under their desks, and then flee the building. The invaders looted souvenirs; police shot a woman dead.

The Trump era (and American history, of which it is a part) has been defined by a stubborn, fretful failure to call things what they are. Bribery, ethnic cleansing, kidnapping, murder—surely the president didn’t really do these things. He couldn’t have meant them that way. Not seriously, or not literally.

Seriously, literally, actually: On Jan. 6, at the president’s direction, the constitutionally scheduled process for the transfer of power was interrupted by violence. By night, police had cleared the building, and Congress set out to try again.

In the meantime, the National Guard was called in for additional security—but not on the president’s orders. By the account of the secretary of defense (or the acting secretary, in the preexisting shambles of the Trump administration), the decision to deploy the…

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China quashes blogs, alleged coup rumors – WPTZ The Champlain Valley (blog)

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China quashes blogs, alleged coup rumors
WPTZ The Champlain Valley (blog)
Internet security provider AVG ranks which US cities are most vulnerable to online threats like identity theft and email security breaches using a survey of 8000 Internet users in 35 cities. Internet security provider AVG ranks which US cities are most …

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