As chaotic antigovernment demonstrations engulfed Sudan\u2019s capital, Khartoum, a young doctor emerged from his hiding place and strode down a deserted street, his hand held high.<\/p>\n
An eyewitness said the doctor, Babiker Salama, approached a group of security officials gathered around a truck last week and issued a plea. A protester had been injured and was badly bleeding, he said. Would the officers permit his evacuation?<\/p>\n
Exactly what happened next is hotly disputed by Sudan\u2019s president and the protesters seeking his ouster, but the result is not. A gunshot rang out. Dr. Babiker, 27, fell to the ground, grievously injured. An hour, later he was dead.<\/p>\n
The death of Dr. Babiker, an idealistic young man from an affluent family, has emerged as a signal moment in a powerful tide of protest that has roiled Sudan over the past five weeks, posing the greatest threat yet to the country\u2019s ruler of 30 years, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.<\/p>\n
Demonstrations that started on Dec. 19 as a howl against soaring bread prices in the city of Atbara have snowballed into a nationwide movement, driven by daily protests calling for the president\u2019s ouster. They hope to succeed where international efforts failed; Mr. Bashir\u2019s autocratic rule has endured despite American missile attacks, war crimes indictments, international condemnation, economic sanctions, and a momentous 2011 split that led to the creation of South Sudan.<\/p>\n
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\u201cJust fall, that is all!\u201d cry protesters who mass in the streets of Khartoum nearly every day, often in an effort to reach the National Assembly building on the banks of the Nile. The security forces beat them back with tear gas and live gunfire.<\/p>\n
A fresh wave of protests on Thursday drew thousands of people in Khartoum, Port Sudan and several other towns \u2014 the most widespread demonstrations yet. Activists said two protesters had been killed, one of them shot in the chest. At least 40 people have died, and hundreds have been detained, according to Amnesty International.<\/p>\n
Mr. Bashir\u2019s security forces crushed a previous protest movement in September 2013 with brutality, killing 170 people in less than a week, according to rights groups. But this time, experts say, the protests feel different.<\/p>\n
The revolt, which has spread from Khartoum to 35 cities in 15 of Sudan\u2019s 18 provinces, is led by disgruntled young professionals from the classes that were long tolerant of Mr. Bashir\u2019s iron-fisted rule. Speaking by phone, a dozen protesters, weary of economic decay and international isolation, said they hoped the government\u2019s panicky reaction signaled that Mr. Bashir\u2019s rule was grinding toward its end.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe regime is frightened,\u201d said Sheraz Ibrahim, 30, a former United Nations consultant who has joined the protests. \u201cThis is not just about Bashir \u2014 we want the whole regime to step aside and let a new generation take control.\u201d<\/p>\n
As she spoke, a clamor erupted in the background. \u201cThat\u2019s another protest, right outside my house,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
International reaction to Sudan\u2019s tumult has been muted \u2014 a product of indifference, perhaps, but also of apprehension among experts and policymakers who fear that, like the Arab Spring in 2011, upheaval could lead to instability or even greater repression.<\/p>\n
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\u201cHistory tells us over and again to think seriously about what happens next, and how,\u201d said Zach Vertin, a former Obama administration official who worked on Sudan, and recently published a book about South Sudan. \u201cLibya and Egypt show the results of uncontrolled regime change when there\u2019s no thought about the day after.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Bashir has weathered severe storms before. An American missile attack in 1998 destroyed a factory in Khartoum and presaged crippling economic sanctions. In 2010, Mr. Bashir was indicted on a charge of genocide by the International Criminal Court over his conduct of the war in Darfur.<\/p>\n
The secession of South Sudan in 2011 deprived his government of vital oil revenues.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has frequently been underestimated,\u201d said Alex de Waal, a Sudan expert at Tufts University, who ascribed Mr. Bashir\u2019s political longevity to a well-oiled security apparatus and a formidable patronage machine greased by corruption and shifting regional alliances.<\/p>\n
But a precipitous economic collapse in the past year whipped up a storm of popular rage against Mr. Bashir, with even wealthy Sudanese suffering from chronic fuel shortages, price increases and a currency crisis. Young doctors emerged as vocal critics, in many cases motivated by the dire conditions in the grimy hospitals where they worked, and where patients often die for want of medicines worth a few dollars.<\/p>\n
Subscribe for original insights, commentary and discussions on the major news stories of the week, from columnists Max Fisher and Amanda Taub.<\/p>\n
Dr. Babiker, the young man shot on Jan. 17, was an unlikely symbol of revolt. From a well-to-do background, he was raised partly in Saudi Arabia, where his father works as a lawyer. His family lives in an exclusive Khartoum suburb near business tycoons and foreign diplomats. Three of his four sisters are also doctors.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were not like the people in need,\u201d said his 33-year-old sister, Sulafa Salama, who works as a doctor in Ireland. \u201cWe had nothing to do with politics.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2016 Dr. Babiker was sent to the remote Nuba Mountains for his military service, where he was shocked by the conditions, often performing cesarean sections by the light of his cellphone. He voluntarily stayed an extra three months, until a replacement doctor could arrive.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother begged him to come home but he refused,\u201d Sulafa Salama said. \u201cHe said, \u2018I can\u2019t leave. I\u2019m the only doctor here.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
In death, Babiker Salama has become a rallying cry for protesters. The doctor who had tried to save his life addressed a crowd in Arabic and English, a Sudanese flag draped over his shoulders.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a message to the world: The people killed in Sudan were not doing anything wrong,\u201d he said. \u201cThey were going out peacefully, to say no to this cruel system.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a speech on Sunday, Mr. Bashir addressed Dr. Babiker\u2019s death directly, blaming \u201cinfiltrators.\u201d A government spokesman later claimed Dr. Babiker had been shot by an unidentified young woman who pulled a pistol from her purse.<\/p>\n
\u201cCommunists have no religion and no morals,\u201d the spokesman said, in an apparent reference to the woman. He promised to release a video recording of the shooting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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