Huge protests on 4th anniversary of Sudan’s December Revolution, met with heavy repression

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Khartoum and 16 other cities yesterday in the December 19 Marches of the Millions, which commemorated the beginning of the 2018 December revolution, to demand the overthrow of the putschists.

Demonstrations to mark the fourth anniversary of the December Revolution, which eventually led to the overthrow of the regime of Omar Al Bashir after three decades of dictatorship, took place all over the country, including Wad Madani, Port Sudan, Atbara, Kadugli, and Nyala.

Protesters demand those responsible for the military coup in October last year step down. They chanted slogans such as ‘Freedom, Peace, Justice’ and “The revolution is the people’s choice. The revolution is a people’s revolution. The military back to the barracks and the Janjaweed disbanded”.

The marches were met with fierce repression from security forces. Journalist Tom Rhodes said on Twitter that “security forces used the usual tactic – bombarding the protestors with tear gas and stun grenades, followed by security forces on foot who then arrest them”.

Khartoum protests

In Khartoum and its twin cities, the marches started from 12 gathering points through six routes moving in the direction of the Republican Palace. A group of protesters reportedly managed to get within 1.5km of the palace. 

The processions were reportedly kilometers long.

Protesters told Radio Dabanga that security forces blocked four bridges with containers, including the White Nile Bridge between Omdurman and Khartoum and the El Mak Nimr, El Mansheya, and Blue Nile bridges connecting Khartoum with Khartoum North (Bahri).

The forces also sealed off the perimeter of the Central Command of the Sudan Armed Forces in the centre of the city as well.

The forces fired tear gas, stun grenades, and stones at the demonstrators.

El Hadaf newspaper, the mouthpiece of the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party, reported that a correspondent of Al Jazeera Live was shot in the leg while he was covering the December 19 protests in Khartoum. His camera was confiscated.

Official holiday

The Sudanese authorities announced December 19 as an official holiday in the country to pre-empt the Marches of the Millions commemorating the beginning of the December 2018 Revolution as the marches were expected to have a large turn-out.

The date also coincides with the declaration of independence from the joint British-Egyptian colonial rule on December 19, 1955.

Marches in the states

Outside of Khartoum, protest marches took place in 16 other cities.

Demonstrators from Kadugli, capital of South Kordofan, told Radio Dabanga that they went out to mark the fourth anniversary of the 2018 December Revolution, to all for the overthrow of the October 2021 putschists, and to repeat the slogans of ‘No negotiation, No partnership, No legitimacy’ (with/for the military).

In Atbara, River Nile state, people also marched in a roaring procession “on the anniversary of the launch of the glorious December Revolution”.

The participants chanted slogans denouncing the Framework Agreement and demanding retribution for the blood of the martyrs, referring to ongoing negotiations on impunity. 

Nujoud El Shalali, a member of an Atbara resistance committee, told Radio Dabanga that many people from Ed Damer and Berber tribes joined the demonstration in Atbara.

She said that large numbers of security forces wearing civilian clothes joined the protest march as well. “They were noticed but nothing happened.”

Renewed commitment to the martyrs

Members of resistance committees in various states announced the renewal of their commitment to the martyrs of the revolution and political detainees in prisons.

Ashraf Khojali, member of the resistance committees in Hasaheisa in El Gezira, told Radio Dabanga that the revolution cannot be celebrated until after a civilian government has been established and justice has been served.

The protesters demanded retribution for the victims of anti-protester violence and held up pictures of those who died during the December Revolution and the months that followed and of those who were killed by security forces since the October 25, 2021, military coup.

An important event is the June 3 Massacre in which the military killed at least 186 whilst another 100 went missing and many more were injured.

Since the October 2021 coup, at least 122 protesters were killed and more than 7,000 protesters were injured between October 2021 and August 2022 alone.

Omar Abdallah in Kassala said that the state’s resistance committees reject the Framework Agreement and demand a democratic transformation by a civilian government.

Hopes

Volker Perthes, head of UNITAMS, expressed his hope that the political process will be able to achieve the demands and aspirations of the Sudanese who took to the streets four years ago.

In a tweet yesterday, he said that the Sudanese are still continuing to struggle for a future full of peace, democracy, human rights, and equality.

Jibril Ibrahim, current Minister of Finance and head of the Justice and Equality Movement, tweeted that the fourth anniversary of the December Revolution passed “without achieving its goals due to its hijacking by a few activists”. He said that “the country is in dire need of national consensus in which no one is excluded”.