Sudanese protest leaders cancelled planned talks with the country’s ruling generals on Tuesday, as hundreds of children, many dressed in their school uniforms and waving Sudanese flags, took to the streets of Khartoum, state’s capitol, to protest about the killings in the city of El-Obeid.
Demonstrations by schoolchildren were also held in other parts of the capital and in other cities.
The killings came a day before protest leaders were due to hold talks with generals on the remaining aspects of installing civilian rule after the two sides inked a power-sharing deal earlier this month. But three protest leaders said the dialogue would not take place as planned.
Videos emerging from El-Obeid show students in uniform chanting, but their cries for better living conditions are drowned out by heavy gunfire. the hospital was crowded with bloodied victims.
The United Nations children’s agency, Unicef, has called on the authorities to investigate the killings and bring the perpetrators to justice.
The chairman of Sudan’s military council, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has condemned the killings.
