By Theodore Jones –
Sudanese security forces shot dead an anti-coup protester on Wednesday as American diplomats visited Khartoum seeking to help end a crisis which has claimed dozens of lives and derailed the country’s democratic transition.
For two days shops have shuttered and protesters have blockaded streets in a civil disobedience campaign to protest the killing of seven people during a demonstration on Monday, one of the bloodiest days since the October 25 military coup.
The latest killing took place in Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman where protesters opposed to the coup had set up barricades.
Pro-democracy medics from the Doctors’ Committee said the protester was shot in the torso “by live bullets of the (security) forces”.
Witnesses also reported the use of tear gas by security forces in Omdurman and eastern Khartoum.
The death brings to 72 the number of people killed in a security crackdown against protesters who have taken to the streets — sometimes in the tens of thousands — calling for a return to the country’s democratic transition and opposing the latest military putsch.
Protesters have been shot by live rounds and hundreds have been wounded, according to the Doctors’ Committee.
The Forces for Freedom and Change, the leading civilian pro-democracy group, called for more protests on Thursday in Khartoum “in tribute to the martyrs”, and nationwide on Friday.