Civilian death prompts more protests in Sudan


Scores of Sudanese demonstrators took to the streets in a district of Khartoum Monday night to protest the killing of a civilian allegedly by paramilitaries the previous day.

Riot police looked on as a crowd waved Sudanese flags and chanted revolutionary slogans in the capital's eastern district of Burri, a hotbed of protests since demonstrations first erupted in December, witnesses said.

The rally, which came hours after another protest was broken up by police in the city, was against the killing of a civilian Sunday in the town of el-Souk in the state of Sinnar, southeast of Khartoum.

The civilian was killed in unrest when residents gathered in el-Souk to demand that members of the feared paramilitary Rapid Support Forces leave the town, according to residents and doctors close to the protest movement. The paramilitaries allegedly opened fire on the demonstrators.

In the previous months, protesters stayed in the streets demanding the generals hand over power to civilian leadership. Talks collapsed when security forces razed a protest camp outside military headquarters in Khartoum on June 3, leaving more than a hundred dead, according to protesters. At least 136 people have been killed nationwide since June 3, including more than 100 on the day of the raid, according to doctors close to the umbrella protest movement, the Alliance for Freedom and Change. The health ministry says 78 people have been killed nationwide.