2019 El Obeid massacre
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| 2019 El Obeid massacre | |
|---|---|
| Part of Sudanese Revolution | |
  El Obeid El Obeid (Sudan) | |
| Location | 13°11′N 30°13′E / 13.183°N 30.217°E El Obeid, Sudan |
| Date | 28 July 2019 |
| Target | Sudanese protesters |
Attack type | Mass murder |
| Deaths | 6 |
| Injured | 60+ injured |
| Perpetrators | Rapid Support Forces , Sudanese Armed Forces, |
| Motive | Dispersing a protest |
The 2019 El Obeid massacre occurred on 29 July 2019, when the Sudanese Transitional Military Council (TMC) troops shot at student protesters, killing six people five of which were students aged from 14 to 16. Students had been rallying against the TMC and price hikes in El-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state, when soldiers belonging to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) dispersed the protests violently.[1]
The Sudanese revolution started in 2018 calling for the removal of the president Omar al-Bashir. Bashir was deposed on 11 April 2019, by the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), who established a Transitional Military Council lead by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.[2]
Democratic opposition groups and the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) continued the protests calling for civilian rule and transferring the power to the civilians who lead the revolution.[3] The tensions between TMC and protesters heightened on third of June, when RSF used heavy gunfire and tear gas to disperse a sit-in protestest in Khartoum leading to over 128 deaths.[4]
Massacre
On 28 July 2019, more than 500 secondary school students in El-Obeid started an spontaneous protest against the Khartoum massacre. Students were also protesting against price increases and shortages of bread.[5] Protests were reportedly peaceful although the then governor of North Kordofan state al-Sadiq al-Tayeb Abdallah alleged that the protest were "infiltrated" by hostile forces who set a building belonging to the Bank of Khartoum on fire.[6] On the second day of the protests the protesters were approaching the Sudanese French Bank, when RSF troops first started firing in the air after which they fired indiscriminately at protesters. After the gunshots SAF troops moved in on protesters using whips and metal bars to disperse the protest. The protests left six dead and over 60 people injured.[7]