Sudanese forces clamp down in clash with protesters

KHARTOUM, Sudan -- Pro-democracy protesters defied Sudan's military rulers Tuesday, carrying out scattered demonstrations around the capital of Khartoum as security forces -- including one of the most feared military units -- fanned out in large numbers and clashed with opponents in the streets.

The protest movement aimed to show it can keep up the pressure in its confrontation with the generals, one day after security forces cleared the demonstrators' main sit-in camp in Khartoum in a bloody crackdown activists say killed at least 35 people.

Worshippers across the capital early Tuesday marked the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr, closing the fasting month of Ramadan. Their Eid prayers on streets outside mosques turned into short political rallies, with some chanting, "Freedom, peace, justice and civilian government are the people's choice."

Heavy clashes erupted in the afternoon as security forces put down smaller protests in neighborhoods around the city. Organizers said at least two people were killed: a 14-year-old boy shot to death at a protest and a woman who hit by a stray bullet in her home as security forces opened fire outside.

Security forces clamped down by sending large numbers of troops to patrol main avenues, activists said. A convoy of more than two dozen pick-up trucks stretched the length of al-Mashtal Street, a main commercial boulevard, each carrying six or seven fighters standing in the back, rifles at the ready, according to a photo online.

An online video showed dozens of gunmen from the Rapid Support Forces, their faces hidden by black masks, firing rifles in the air as they advanced on foot down a residential street in the central Bahri district.

The crackdown is largely being spearheaded by the RSF, an elite unit human rights groups say carried out rapes, torture and killings of civilians in Sudan's Darfur region.

The force, headed by the deputy head of the ruling military council, Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, grew out of the Janjaweed militias used by the government in its suppression of the Darfur insurgency in a campaign prompting charges of genocide against its perpetrators.

"Fall tonight, you and your Janjaweed," a group of several hundred men, women and children were seen chanting in an online video at one of Tuesday's protests.

The heaviest clashes erupted in Bahri district. There, young men set up small barricades of stones and metal fences and RSF fighters moved in, firing tear gas and live ammunition, said Mohammed Najib, a protester.

"Life is almost suspended in Bahri. The revolutionaries and RSF closed off the streets," he said.

At least eight people, including a 5-year-old child, were wounded by bullets in various clashes, said Nazim Sirraj, a leading activist. The protest movement's Doctors Committee said it was unable to track the total number of casualties because of poor internet communications.

Monday's bloody dispersal of the sit-in poses a new challenge to the protest movement, which now aims to show it can keep up pressure in the streets after its central rallying point was wiped out. In April, the movement succeeded in forcing the military to remove Sudan's longtime strongman, Omar al-Bashir. It then kept its sit-in going, demanding the generals who took power hand over authority to civilians.

"We have no choice but to continue our protests and civil disobedience until the fall of the military council," said Mohammed Yousef al-Mustafa, a spokesman for the Sudanese Professionals Association, which has spearheaded the protests.

For weeks, the military and protest leaders were negotiating over the makeup of a transitional council meant to run the country for three years before elections. Protesters demand civilians dominate the council, but the generals have resisted.

In Monday's assault, RSF fighters and other troops waded into the protest camp outside the military's headquarters, opening fire and burning down tents. Other troops crushed two smaller sit-ins organized by the protesters elsewhere.