Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 5 June 2019
Sudanese forces clamp down in capital, clash with protesters

By BASSAM HATOUM At least eight people, in-
SAMY MAGDY cluding a 5-year-old child,
KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) were wounded by bullets
— Pro-democracy protest- in various clashes, said Na-
ers defied Sudan's military zim Sirraj, a leading activ-
rulers Tuesday, carrying ist. The protest movement's
out scattered demonstra- Doctors Committee said
tions around the capital of it was unable to track the
Khartoum as security forc- total number of casualties
es — including one of the because of poor internet
most feared military units communications.
— fanned out in large num- Monday's bloody dispersal
bers and clashed with op- of the sit-in poses a new
ponents in the streets. challenge to the protest
The protest movement movement, which now
aimed to show it can keep aims to show it can keep
up the pressure in its con- up pressure in the streets af-
frontation with the gener- ter its central rallying point
als, one day after security was wiped out. In April, the
forces cleared the dem- movement succeeded in
onstrators' main sit-in camp In this frame grab from video provided by Sudan TV, Lieutenant General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, forcing the military to re-
in Khartoum in a bloody head of the Sudanese Transitional Military Council, TMC, makes a broadcast announcement in move Sudan's longtime
crackdown that activists Khartoum, Sudan, Tuesday, June 4, 2019. strongman, Omar al-Bashir.
say killed at least 35 peo- Associated Press It then kept its sit-in going,
ple. demanding that the gen-
Worshippers across the was hit by a stray bullet in masks, firing rifles in the air against its perpetrators. erals who took power hand
capital early Tuesday her home as security forces as they advanced on foot "Fall tonight, you and your over authority to civilians.
marked the Islamic holiday opened fire outside. down a residential street in Janjaweed," a group of "We have no choice but to
of Eid al-Fitr, closing the Security forces clamped the central Bahri district. several hundred men, continue our protests and
fasting month of Ramadan. down by sending large The crackdown is largely women and children were civil disobedience until the
Their Eid prayers on streets numbers of troops to pa- being spearheaded by the seen chanting in an online fall of the military council,"
outside mosques turned trol main avenues, activ- RSF, an elite unit that hu- video at one of Tuesday's said Mohammed Yousef al-
into short political rallies, ists said. A convoy of more man rights groups say car- protests. Mustafa, a spokesman for
with some chanting, "Free- than two dozen pick-up ried out rapes, torture and The heaviest clashes erupt- the Sudanese Profession-
dom, peace, justice and trucks stretched the length killings of civilians in Sudan's ed in Bahri district. There, als Association, which has
civilian government are the of al-Mashtal Street, a main Darfur region. young men set up small spearheaded the protests.
people's choice." commercial boulevard, The force, headed by the barricades of stones and For weeks, the military and
Heavy clashes erupted in each carrying six or seven deputy head of the ruling metal fences and RSF fight- protest leaders were ne-
the afternoon as security fighters standing in the military council, Gen. Mo- ers moved in, firing tear gas gotiating over the makeup
forces put down smaller back, rifles at the ready, hammed Hamdan Dagalo, and live ammunition, said of a transitional council
protests in neighborhoods according to a photo on- grew out of the Janjaweed Mohammed Najib, a pro- meant to run the country
around the city. Organiz- line. militias used by the gov- tester. for three years before elec-
ers said at least two people An online video showed ernment in its suppression "Life is almost suspended tions. Protesters demand
were killed: a 14-year-old dozens of gunmen from of the Darfur insurgency in in Bahri. The revolutionar- that civilians dominate the
boy shot to death at a pro- the Rapid Support Forces, a campaign that prompt- ies and RSF closed off the council, but the generals
test and a woman who their faces hidden by black ed charges of genocide streets," he said. have resisted.q

Honduras street protests go on despite laws' cancellation

president's cancellation of Strike leader Suyapa country's main public hos-
decrees that they feared Figueroa, who is president pital, were turned away.
would lead to extensive of the medical college, Presidential minister Ebal
layoffs. said protesters don't trust Díaz said, "The doctors and
Public sector employees the government. She said teachers want to burn the
have been marching for her group, the Platform for country, but this is not the
weeks, accusing President the Defense of Health and way to do it."
Juan Orlando Hernández Education, was not invited Police were investigating
of trying to privatize the to meetings with Hernán- the burning of a miles-long
health and education sys- dez. caravan of semi-trailers
tems. Carlos Izaguirre, a leader hauling bananas for the
Hernández said early Mon- of the protesting teachers, U.S. fruit company Dole.
day that the laws were accused teachers who ap- The trucks were apparently
Public sector employees march to protest the government withdrawn "for the peace parently met with Hernán- looted and burned over
of Honduras' President Juan Orlando Hernandez, accusing
Hernández of trying to privatize the health and education sys- of Honduras." He urged dez of "turning their backs the weekend on a highway
tems, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Monday, June 3, 2019. those striking to return to on the base of the strike." 250 miles (400 kilometers)
Associated Press work and to sit down with In the capital, many north of the capital.
the government "to build a schools remained closed On Friday, protesters
Associated Press ers and doctors in Hondu- new model that improves and hundreds of people burned tires at the en-
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras ras joined in street protests health and education for seeking care at the Hospi- trance to the U.S. Embassy
(AP) — Thousands of teach- again Monday despite the the people." tal Escuela Universitario, the in Tegucigalpa.q