Day 25 of the Military Coup
Summary of Events
After almost 25 days of #SudanBlackout, mobile internet services have been restored to the country! News broke this afternoon, when local citizens began appearing on social media apps like Twitter. Many questioned the military's decision to return internet access, particularly after the heinous events of yesterday (#Nov17March). Some activists argued that it was for surveillance purposes; that the military would use video uploads from yesterday's events to pinpoint and arrest activists and witnesses. Others argued that it may be due to the Khartoum District Court order to arrest any General Manager of a telecom company who refuse to follow through with the ruling and return internet service to the people. It remains uncertain if this internet restoration is permanent.
The return of the internet was disorienting for many Sudanese, who had been in quasi-complete darkness for almost a month. Many had no idea of the extent of the events of the last 25 days, and were shocked by the level of violence that was inflicted on Khartoum. Read this thread of one Sudanese resident of Khartoum account of the experience.
As the city struggled to come to grips with yesterday's tragedy, attacks continued in Bahri, with reported random firing of teargas and shooting of live ammunition, as well as mass arrests. It is important to remember that Bahri bore much of the violence inflicted by coup forces yesterday. There were reports of parents being prevented by coup forces from seeing their injured children at the hospital, being threatened with violence and turned back.
It was also reported that families were prevented from claiming their relatives' bodies from the morgue; with reports of cause of death on certificates falsified to say 'suffocation'. This also happened on October 30, when one protester's death certificate said he died of COVID. The family, which had reached the cemetery and was ready to start burial when they noticed the error, took the body back to the morgue and stood outside in protest until the certificate was changed.
In the media, Khartoum police held a press conference in which they denied the use of violence, and admit only to using teargas to control protest crowds. Despite the mountains of photo and video evidence to the contrary, police claimed protesters were violent and had attacked officers (a common lie told since the revolution).
In AlDuweim, White Nile State, resistance committees reported mass arrests and terror following yesterday's #Nov17March. In Sinja, Sennar State, resistance committees reported violence and intimidation, house raids, mass arrests and attacks on pedestrians by coup forces.
Resistance committees of Khartoum and Medani, Jezira State, announced a campaign to socially ostracize all coup members, officials, and Islamist loyalists, as well as military and intelligence staff. This is a call that resistance committees also made during the revolution; in a tight knit, communal society such as Sudan’s, social pressure applied can lead to political change. Neighborhood committees of Bahri announced a continued escalation of nonviolent resistance.
The unbridled brutality that people have been experiencing over the last week (and since October 25) is the military's way of forcing people to submit. But it is backfiring; each massacre fills the people with more outrage, and injects the streets with more resolve.
Alternatively, you can view the daily wrap-up in video format here.