Three people were killed on Monday during protests demanding a return to civilian rule raising the death toll to 76 since the military coup in October last year, the doctor’s central committee said.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets in several towns across Sudan, including Khartoum and Wad Madani, on Monday to protest against military rule while chanting “power is for the people, military to the barracks”.

In Khartoum, the protestors gathered in the Bashdar area before heading towards the presidential palace where they were tear-gassed by heavily security forces.

According to a statement released by the Central Committee of Sudan Doctors (CCSD), the deceased died as a result of being shot with live ammunition by security forces.

“Three civilians have lost their lives as a result of direct shootings with live ammunition by the security forces during today’s (Monday) anti-coup peaceful protests,” the CCSD said. “Those who died as a result of gunshot wounds are Mohamed Amer Elaish, 23, and Thabit Moawya Bashir, 22, who were killed in the capital Khartoum and Gasim Mohamed, in his twenties, who was killed in the town of Madani.”

“We protesting to call for a civilian government and the military should go back to their barracks,” said Sanhoury Ali, a protester in Khartoum.

Another protestor, Salwa Hassan said power should be fully handed to a civilian government and not shared with the army.

“We demand a country where power is with a civilian government,” Hassan said.

In Madani, Algzaira State in Central Sudan, thousands took to the streets to demand a civilian government and to honor a boy named Faisal Shariaa who was shot dead during protests earlier in the month.

Since the 25 October coup, large sections of the Sudanese population, especially in the capital and other major towns, have been protesting military rule and demanding a return to civilian rule.

Source: Radio Tamazuj