Stop the massacres of protesters

On 30 June 2022, hundreds of thousands took to the streets across Sudan to demand a democratic, civilian government in place of the coterie of generals and militia leaders who seized power in a coup last October. Once again they have been met with violence by the authorities, who sent the security forces to kill, maim and arrest protesters. According to a statement released by the Sudanese Unified Doctors’ Office on 30 June, medical professionals “witnessed several attempts from the security forces to attack hospitals in Khartoum state, as well as the medical staff who are working tirelessly to treat the injured.” By 1 July, nine people had been killed by the security forces during the 30 June protests, bringing the total killed since October 2021 to 113. 

Such attacks by the Sudanese security forces are all too familiar. During the recent national strike by Sudanese teachers over pay and conditions, security forces arrested and beat striking teachers and threw tear gas grenades into a primary school, terrifying the pupils and staff. 

We are appalled that Western governments continue to lend legitimacy to this brutal regime which tramples on basic democratic rights, kills protesters with impunity and attacks striking workers. It is not enough to call for “full and transparent investigations” into the killings and offer “condolences” to the families of those murdered, as the UK embassy in Khartoum did on 1 July. 

We call on Western governments to immediately cease all forms of contact with the Sudanese junta and enforce a strict embargo on arms and equipment which could be used to suppress protests. This embargo must cover not only direct transfers but also those by allied states, such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, Israel and Egypt which have been at the forefront of providing military and diplomatic cover for the coup leaders. 

Western governments must stop putting pressure on Sudanese civil society and political movements to sit down and negotiate with the regime which is killing them and instead withdraw support from the regime of Al-Burhan.”

Initial signatories include the following plus hundreds of other trade unionists and activists:

Gary Younge, journalist, broadcaster and Professor of Sociology, University of Manchester; Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretary, National Education Union; Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary, National Education Union; Daniel Kebede, President, National Education Union; Maggie Chapman, Member of the Scottish Parliament; Virginia Rodino, Coalition of Labor Union Women, AFL-CIO; Tandrima Mazumdar, Herstory Salford; Jake Bowers, Drive2Survive; Lucia Bella Adeniji-Fashola, RMT, Jane Gwynne, RMT; Haydn Jones, Unite; Phil Rowan, RMT; Saira Weiner, UCU National Executive; Sarah Ensor, PCS Branch Secretary and NEC member; Angela McCormick, EIS FELA National Executive; Louise Regan, National Education Union executive; Layla-Roxanne Hill, National Executive NUJ (personal capacity); Teopista Birungi UNATU Uganda National Teachers Union, Julia Simpkins NEU ISO, Tony Foody Cumbria NEU ISO, Pauline Kennedy Liverpool NEU ISO, Janice Millington North Derbyshire NEU ISO, Danny Reilly NEU, Fiaz Rashid NEU, Waqas Ahmed Bradford NEU ISO, S.Russell NEU, K.Steelandt Denbighshire NEU, L.Rodriguez East Essex NEU ISO, L. Richards Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign, T.Sutton NEU Dorset, Artin Giles UNITE, Richard Woffenden NEU, Martin Silver Warwickshire District NEU ISO, Liz Payne Unison, Claudia Merola NEU ISO; Robin Tear, NEU Hillingdon; Daniel Peake, NEU Kingston; Heather Marcano, NEU Cheshire West; Noor Wafa, NEU Richmond; Murray Sackwild NEU Essex; Helen Porter; NEU West Berkshire; Pippa Dowswell, NEU Islington; Mairead Canavan, NEU executive; Lynne Emilivna Berezanski, NEU Swansea ISO officer and Vice-President; John Unsworth, NEU Cumbria; K Steelawat, NEU Denbighshire; M Phillips, NEU Montgomery; K Hoonjam, NEU East Midlands; T Powell, NEU Somerset North; Geoffrey Holmes, NEU Medway; Christopher Lilley, NEU East Kent, Assistant Secy.; Helen Turner, NEU Cumbria; Nikki Wilson; NEU Ealing; Ernestas Jegorovas, NEU Westminster; K Richards, NEU Bexley; Una Doyle, NEU Camden; Alex Thompson, NEU Cambridgeshire; Saleem Rashid, NEU; Meryl Chrysostoma, NEU; Paramjeet Singh Bhogal, NEU; Arif Bektas, Solidarity with the People of Turkey; Dawn Taylor, Stockport NEU; Russell Whincup, RMT Leeds City; Janine Broderick, Birmingham Unison, Deputy Branch Secretary; Jane Bassett, NEU Hackney; Don Gluckstein, EIS Council; Roddy Slorach, UCU Branch Secretary, Imperial College London; Martin Empson, Climate against Climate Change; Lucia Pradella, KCL UCU Vice President; Maggie Palmer UNITE SLAM Branch Chair; Dave Sherry, UNITE Glasgow RM Branch Committee; Simon Hester, Chair, Hastings and District Trades Council; Sally Kincaid, NEU Branch Secretary Wakefield; Miriam Scharf, NEU Newham International Solidarity Officer; Fran Postlethwaite, NEU Barnsley Assistant Secy; Simon Magorian, Bakers’ Union; Maxine Bowler, Sheffield TUC Vice President; Mark Sage, UNISON branch international officer; Jon Woods, Portsmouth City Unison Branch Chair; Bruce Murphy, Just Stop Oil / XR Trade Unionists / Manchester People’s Assembly; Shella Lone, Care4Calais; Steve West, PCS DWP Edinburgh, Lothian and Borders Branch Secretary; Carlo Morelli, UCU Dundee Co-President; David Swanson, UCU Manchester Branch President; Mateusz Pidruczny, Pracownicza Demokracya (Workers’ Democracy, Poland); Piotr Wisniewsky, Pracownicza Demokracya (Workers’ Democracy, Poland); Lukasz Wiewior, Pracownicza Demokracya (Workers’ Democracy, Poland); Liam Condron-Farnos, Unison (Plymouth Branch Secy); Katharina Anetzberger, Linkswende, Austria; Matthias Bauer, Linkswende Austria; Jan Marek Buechen, Linkswende Austria; Noelle Moran, ASTI, Ireland; Mark Walshe, ASTI, Ireland; Volkhard Mosler, Ver.di, Die Linke, Marx 21 (Germany); Rita Renken, GEW (Germany); Rosemarie Nuenning, Ver.di (Germany); Santiago Anvodor, Marx 21 (Spain); Lene Junker; IS-Denmark; Morten Rasmussen, IS-Denmark; Carla Naur Norremolle, IS-Denmark, Anna Wolf, IS-Denmark; Simon Murch, Joint Secretary, Sheffield NEU and NEU Executive; Charlie Kimber, Editor, Socialist Worker; Jenny Cooper, National Executive, NEU; Simon Hester, Chair, Hastings TUC; James Eaden, President, Chesterfield and District TUC; Steve West, PCS Branch Secretary, DWP Edinburgh, Lothian & Borders; Nuraddin Abdulmannan, President, Nubia Project and Human rights activist; Jamie Allinson, UCU member, Scotland

Download a copy of the statement to print and take to picket lines and meetings. Completed copies can be scanned and emailed to action@menasolidaritynetwork.net

Add your name to this letter here:

Names will be published online and sent to the Sudanese Embassy in the UK. If you leave your details we will contact you with updates about this campaign and other similiar campaigns organised by MENA Solidarity.

Please note names will not appear automatically. The above is a subset of signatures that have already been collected.