KHARTOUM (Al Jazeera) --
Sudanese security forces fired tear gas at anti-coup protesters in Khartoum chanting slogans against the military days after the resignation of the country’s civilian premier, witnesses said Tuesday.
Protesters shouted “No, no to military rule” and called for the disbandment of Sudan’s ruling council headed by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who led an October 25 coup that derailed a transition to civilian rule.
Thousands of protesters gathered across Sudan, including in Khartoum and its twin city of Omdurman, as well as the eastern city of Port Sudan and the South Darfur capital of Nyala.
Demonstrators in east Khartoum “burned car tires and built rock barricades on the streets,” witness Sawsan Salah told the AFP news agency.
Other protesters urged the military “to go back to the barracks”.
In southern Khartoum and in Bahri, thousands of protesters gathered and tried to march towards the presidential palace, Vall said, but they were “met with tear gas”.
Earlier on Tuesday, Sudanese security forces beefed up security in and around Khartoum as protesters called for mass rallies in a bid to keep up pressure on the military following the resignation of civilian Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.
Activists said authorities closed roads in the capital and Omdurman to prevent demonstrators from reaching key government buildings.
Hamdok, who was deposed and put under house arrest in an October 25 coup, had returned to government on November 21 under a deal signed with al-Burhan.
But pro-democracy protesters who had denounced the military’s power grab also rejected its deal with Hamdok, whom they accused of “betrayal” for signing an agreement that ensured the military’s dominance in Sudanese politics.
Tens of thousands of people have continued taking to the streets despite a heavy security crackdown that has killed at least 57 protesters and wounded hundreds since the coup, according to a medical group.
Hamdok had served as prime minister for more than two years under a power-sharing arrangement between civilian leaders and the generals who removed longtime leader Omar al-Bashir in April 2019.