Sudanese authorities on Tuesday, July 29, 2019, ordered all schools nationwide to suspend classes indefinitely after crowds of students launched demonstrations against the killing of six protesters including five pupils at a rally in a central town.
“Killing a student is killing a nation,” chanted hundreds of schoolchildren, dressed in their uniforms and waving Sudanese flags, as they took to the streets of Khartoum against the killings in Al-Obeid
Sporadic protests by schoolchildren were also held in other parts of the capital and in other cities.
Late on Tuesday, a committee close to the protest movement said a protester died of wounds after he was “shot with a bullet in the head”.
The committee did not say if he too was a student.
Demonstrators accused feared paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of shooting dead the teenagers.
On Tuesday, the authorities ordered all schools nationwide to suspend classes.
“Orders have been given to governors of all states to shut kindergartens, primary and high schools until further notice,” the official SUNA news agency said, following a directive issued by the ruling military council.
The killings came a day before protest leaders were due to hold talks with generals on remaining aspects of installing civilian rule after the two sides inked a power-sharing deal earlier this month.
The chairman of Sudan’s military council, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, condemned the killings.
“What happened in Al-Obeid is sad. Killing peaceful civilians is an unacceptable crime that needs immediate accountability,” he told journalists, quoted by state television.
Burhan called on negotiators from both sides to “expedite” the dialogue given the overall impasse in the country.
On the streets, crowds of students rallied in Khartoum waving flags and chanting: “The people want to fight for the rights of martyrs.”
“We keep silent all the time and they kill us,” said Enas Saifeddine, a 16-year-old high school student.