As we celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr, our brothers and sisters in Sudan are fighting for their lives to live in a democratic world. 

Sudan had many tough years under Omar Al-Bashir`s presidency who enforced a strict form of Sharia Law, locked up 1000s of political dissidents and “carried out the ethnic cleansing of non-Arabs in Darfur.” 

Since Bashir has been overthrown in April, the violence has been horrible, marking June 3 as the most violent massacre to occur. 

Peaceful protesters were at the sit-ins in Khartoum when the military, which is now known to be running as the transitional government, locked-down the protesters. As protesters try to leave the lockdown, the military started attacking, which lead to a toll of 100 deaths but, the numbers keep rising as the days go by. 

A few days before the Monday massacre happened, Al Jazeera in Sudan was shut down. Reporters were not able to report and were given no reason as to why. 

The massacre seems to have been planned out, days before the attack as there had been a power outage within the sit-in right before shots were fired. From April to June there has been a few steps forward to peace yet, this massacre took more than three steps back. 

The military tried hiding this attack, the massacre itself, from the world by shutting the internet down and dumping many bodies in the Nile River. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo is known as Hemedti, a man pulling all the strings. He is the man behind the recent massacre and the Darfur genocide where Darfuri men, women and children were killed by the Janjaweed which is now renamed as the RSF, Rapid Support Forces. Though, the violence in Darfur by the Janjaweed still continues to this day. 

From the recent attacks, the military has taken some responsibility of the massacre by admitting “some role in what ended up being 100 Sudanese dead according to central committee doctors.” says, Malika Bilal on The Take: Sudan’s muted massacre. The military spokesperson Shams al-Din Kabashi admits “they regret that some mistakes happened.” 

Though there is some responsibility being taken here by the military for the brutal attack, there is no remorse or attempt to reconcile and come to a peaceful ending to this all. 

Many people are still terrified to leave their homes for soldiers are raiding the streets armed. 

“I would like to use the word heartbreaking but […] that would be an understatement. It was like the world was coming to an end.” Al Jazeera, Journalist, Hiba Morgan explains to Bilal on The Take: Sudan’s muted massacre.

As bits and pieces of stories of what happened that day in Khartoum began to fill media outlets, newsfeeds and timelines on various social media platforms, people around the world only began to become informed about the events. 

Though there is a lot of fear within Sudan, the world is beginning to create a movement in support of these protestors by changing their profile pictures on social media to the colour blue. 

A Sudanese protester Mohamed Mattar was killed in Khartoum protecting two women as the military shot at them on that Monday morning. By this man’s heroic actions the world united through what is called the ‘blue wave’. The colour simply represents his favourite colour. 

Right now in Khartoum, many are scared to leave their homes but the hope for change is still very much alive.

On a recent episode of Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, where he covers Protests In Sudan he interviews Mariane Alneel, a Sudanese activist. She explains what has happened and is currently happening in Sudan. As the days go by, while the number of deaths increase, the hope within the heart of Sudan for a better future rises as well.  

Many lives were lost on this Monday massacre and there may be many more lives lost but if they can succeed and get democracy at the end of it all, it would be worth the pain and the fight. “We’ve come so far. We did. We can’t lose all that we’ve gained already.” says, Alneel.