Marches of the Millions: Sudan doctors count 98 injured from tear gas and stun grenades

International representatives have condemned the ongoing use of unjustified force against peaceful demonstrators as wells as human rights violations, as the Central Committee of Sudan Doctors reported 98 cases of injuries, during the Marches of the Millions on Tuesday, when tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Khartoum, as well as other cities across Sudan on Tuesday to express their rejection of the military coup d’état of October 25, and the subsequent political agreement, signed by coup leader Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan and Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok.

In its field report yesterday, the committee said that 18 of the cases were hit by tear gas canisters in the head, face, and chest. The report indicated that one case of back injury was caused by a tear gas canister, which resulted in a fracture of the fifth vertebra. The report monitored 49 cases of injuries to the extremities of the body with tear gas canisters, and one case of multiple injuries to the body as a result of being hit with batons. The report also recorded 22 cases of breathing difficulties from tear gas.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly, Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, expressed his concern over the continued use of unjustified force against peaceful demonstrators demanding full civilian rule.

He said that he has received reports of serious injuries from stun grenades and tear gas canisters on Tuesday. He demanded that justice be guaranteed, and “an end to these illegal measures to suppress the protests”.

The Deputy Head of Mission at Delegation of the European Union to Sudan, Dániel Weiss, expressed his condemnation of human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law, referring to a video clip circulated widely on social media showing the police forces storming a hospital, arresting one of the injured from inside the hospital and preventing him from receiving treatment.

The police press office said that police Lt Gen Anan Hamed Mohamed Omar, director general of the police forces, visited the policemen who were injured during Tuesday’s unrest at the Rabat University Hospital in Burri in Khartoum, without specifying the number of injured and their conditions.