The Sudanese capital is confined to prison while protesters remember the violence that killed at least 60 people

Khartoum, Sudan – Paramilitary troops encircled the sit-in demonstration site that was at the center of a pro-democracy uprising in the Sudanese capital on Tuesday, the day after the explosion of violence that plunged the future the country's politics in an even greater turmoil.

The paramilitary group, known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), was patrolling the streets of Khartoum, blocking the city and setting up dozens of checkpoints. RSF dismantled the sit-in site on Monday as part of an attack that killed at least 35 people, according to the Sudan Doctors Syndicate, a group of professionals badociated with the protests.

The union subsequently declared that dozens of others had been killed in subsequent violence, including in the twin city of Khartoum, Omdurman, and in the White Nile State, Sudan, carrying the total to 60 dead Wednesday with hundreds of wounded.

The United States, which ranks Sudan as one of the sponsors of terrorism, issued strong denunciations of violence on Tuesday. John Bolton, National Security Advisor to President Trump, described the attack as "heinous", but neither he nor Tibor Nagy, Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, said Announced that they would stop talking to the military council about the transition.

"This is a brutal and coordinated attack, led by the Rapid Support Forces militia, which reflects some of the worst abuses of the Bashir regime," Nagy said, referring to the "brutal attack." former president Omar Hbadan al-Bashir, who was dismissed in April.

Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of the Sudanese transitional military government, makes an announcement in an image of a video provided by Sudanese television. (Hazem Ahmed / AP)

Rebel protesters gathered Tuesday in mosques, turning their prayers for the Eid al-Fitr holiday into calls for sustained civil disobedience, according to local news agencies. Sporadic gunfire could still be heard throughout Khartoum and its suburbs.

Throughout the city, the wounded recovered in homes and hospitals, reporting the sudden onset of Monday's attack and the fragility of their non-violent movement against a well-armed adversary.

Before the attack began at dawn, Mohamed Ibrahim Ahmed and his friends had built brick barricades to protect the sit-in site, where pro-democracy protesters have been camping for nearly two months. The fragile defense was no match for the dozens of RSF soldiers who arrived, setting fire to tents, scenes, and anything else they could find.

"They first shot in the air to scare us," said Ahmed, a training engineer. "Then they started shooting at people."

Ahmed said that he participated in the demonstrations almost every day since the beginning of these in December, calling first to the overthrow of Bashir, who led this country of North Africa for 30 years. years, then require a government led by civilians from a reluctant military council to give up its control.

Although he is frustrated by the army, Ahmed said he was heading to his headquarters in search of safety on Monday because it was not the soldiers who were pursuing him but the RSF, known for perpetrating atrocities in the Darfur region of Sudan.

But he found some RSF soldiers there and was trapped.

"Then the shots began," he recalled from a bed in a hospital in a neighboring neighborhood. He had a large cut in the back of his head, purple blues on his arms and, thanks to a quick surgical procedure, four stitches on one finger. "They badped us. They kicked us. "

The presence of RSF soldiers in the city made the work difficult for doctors, overwhelmed with patients. A surgeon, rushing to an operating room, said that none of his badistants could get to the hospital from other cities in the city. "We are just managing, but we do not know how to do it," he said.

In a televised announcement on Monday night, the head of the military council, Lieutenant-General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, said all negotiations with the protest movement were underway and that it would accelerate the transition period for the holding presidential elections in no country. more than nine months. Burhan also said Monday's violence would be the subject of an investigation, but did not specify by whom. He claimed that the leaders of the demonstration were partly to blame.

The US Security Council was scheduled to discuss the situation in Sudan Tuesday during an in camera session requested by Britain and Germany.

The United States has taken the back seat by engaging the military council, while Egyptian, Saudi and UAE leaders have all welcomed their greatest generals in recent weeks.

People pbad burning tires used in protests against the Sudanese government in Khartoum on Tuesday. (Reuters)

Bearak reported from Nairobi.

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