Khartoum -
To the sound of stun grenades and tear gas canisters, thousands of demonstrators in Sudan commemorated today, Monday, the fourth anniversary of the launch of the December 2018 revolution, which paved the way for the overthrow of President Omar Al-Bashir in April 2019.
The capital, Khartoum, with its three cities (Khartoum, Khartoum North, and Omdurman), witnessed the exit of large numbers of protesters, calling for the departure of military rule and rejecting a political settlement.
The demonstrators chanted slogans demanding retribution for the victims of the protests, and during the processions - which were punctuated by fierce confrontations with the security forces - pictures of those who died during the confrontations that preceded the fall of the former regime were raised, in addition to those who fell after the army's measures that overthrew the civil rule on October 25, 2021.
It was remarkable that the demonstrators raised the Sudanese flag to celebrate the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence from inside Parliament, which corresponds to December 19, 1955, and the flags of the resistance committees and the slogans of the "Angry Without Borders" group were also raised.
The demonstrators chanted slogans demanding retribution for the victims of the protests and raised pictures of those who died during the confrontations (French)
close ways
And "Al-Jazeera Net" monitored the closure of major roads in Khartoum since early Monday morning, hours before the scheduled start of the processions called for by the resistance committees.
Tires were lit on Airport Street opposite Station 7, which is one of the points identified for the gathering of demonstrators heading to the presidential palace, and huge stones were placed in several paths that citizens were working to remove to facilitate the passage of cars, while the youth of the resistance returned to close them again.
The security forces confronted the demonstrators in the vicinity of the Presidential Palace Street in central Khartoum, and fired gas bombs at them, which prompted them to retreat, and soon the matter turned into hit-and-run operations during which the protesters tried to disrupt police cars by placing huge barricades and stones, which succeeded for some time in limiting prosecutions.
injuries
Al-Jazeera Net has monitored the fall of a number of injured people as a result of suffocation and stun grenades, and some of them were seriously injured as a result of the security forces using an oblin weapon (gas launcher stuffed with stones and shattered glass).
In Khartoum North, the protests took place through two axes: the first, Al-Ma’una Street, leading to the Great Market, and the other, Al-Sayyid Ali Street, leading to the Mak Nimr Bridge.
The second convoy succeeded in reaching the closed bridge, where it was guarded by a large security force that prevented the demonstrators from crossing it, and intended to disperse them using tear gas and sound bombs.
In Omdurman, north of the capital, the demonstrators succeeded in reaching the outskirts of Parliament, but military forces fired tear gas bombs at them heavily, and clashed with the protesters, some of whom tried to treat a number of injured people to nearby hospitals.
Late Sunday night, the authorities closed a number of bridges linking Khartoum, Omdurman and Bahri, to prevent demonstrators from crossing the presidential palace, and placed military forces around security headquarters and roads leading to the army’s general command and many vital facilities in central Khartoum, and deployed large security reinforcements on The length of the roads leading to the presidential palace.
The government preceded these measures by announcing an official holiday throughout the country, which it said was to commemorate the "glorious" December revolution.
However, the protests were not confined to Khartoum, as the cities in the north of the country, including Berber and Atbara - which represent the spark of the start of the revolution - also took place in Al-Qadarif, in the east of the country, and in Madani, in Al-Jazeera state (center).
The security forces confronted the demonstrators and used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse them (French)
wasted years
Musaab Abdullah, one of the participants in the Başdar procession, describes the four years that have passed since the life of the revolution as nothing but "loss" and tells Al-Jazeera Net that there is no hope for imminent reform after the return of freedom and change to sit with the military component, striking the slogans of the revolutionaries who refuse to negotiate.
The young man in his twenties does not show confidence in the military's departure from power, despite their declaration of readiness for that.
He believes that a political solution will not be achieved before the head of the Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and his deputy, Muhammad Hamdan Daglo, "Hamedti," dismount from power, and bring them to account for the violations and crimes committed since the dissolution of the leadership sit-in until the October 25, 2021 coup, he said.
In turn, Muhammad Najm al-Din, a member of the New Hilla Resistance Committee, confirms to Al-Jazeera Net that the years that followed the December revolution achieved nothing but the loss of dozens of young people's lives.
And he says - while trying to overcome severe suffocation caused by a gas bomb - that after the October 25 coup, the military contributed to a decline in living conditions and deterioration after they had begun to stabilize during the reign of (resigned) Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok, and he was killed after the coup - according to Najm Religion - More than 100 demonstrators and thousands of others were injured who only came out to demand civilian rule.
Today we pass the fourth anniversary of the glorious December revolution without achieving its goals because it was kidnapped by a few exclusionary activists.
The country is in dire need of a national consensus that does not exclude anyone.
Glory and eternity to all the martyrs of the Sudanese revolution, and a speedy recovery to the wounded, and a good promise to the missing.
- Gebreil Ibrahim (@ Gebreil Ibrahim1) December 19, 2022
hijacked revolution
From the viewpoint of Finance Minister and JEM leader Jibril Ibrahim, the "glorious" December is passing without achieving its goals because it was hijacked by a few exclusionary activists, as he described them in a tweet.
The political secretary of the Future Movement, Naji Mustafa, agrees with Jibril by assuring - to Al-Jazeera Net - that the revolution has been kidnapped and needs someone to retrieve it, breathe life into it and re-save it after 4 years of failure, as he put it.
Mustafa says that the politicians from the military, who agreed to enter the political process, and the forces of freedom and change, are the ones who spoiled the transitional period by agreeing to exclude others, their inability to work together, and their refusal at the same time to move away and make way for others, pointing out that they all have an interest in extending the transitional period. .