KHARTOUM (AFP) – Sudan
restricted internet ahead of planned mass protests Saturday against a military coup, as security forces deployed across Khartoum blocking key bridges connecting the capital to the suburbs.
Activists, who use the internet for organizing recent mass demonstrations, had planned the latest in a series of street protests for Saturday -- two months on since generals launched their October 25 takeover.
Sudanese security forces in the capital Khartoum fired tear gas canisters at protesters as thousands of protesters marched on the presidential palace.
They waved flags and chanted slogans against the junta chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and military-dominated administration despite a heavy deployment of security forces.
The protesters are against the October military coup and want soldiers to “go back to the barracks.”
According to witnesses, there were also protest rallies in Madani, a town nearly 85 miles southeast of Khartoum.
Volker Perthes, the UN special envoy to Sudan, urged the authorities to “protect” the protests and not stop them. “Freedom of expression is a human right” Perthes said. “No one should be arrested for his or her intention to protest peacefully.”
The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors called on the international community to “monitor what happens in Sudan on the issue of the revolutionary movement for freedom and democracy.”
More than two years ago, massive anti-government demonstrations hit Sudan, mostly over economy. The protesters, youths for a large part, demanded the resignation of then President Omar al-Bashir.
Bashir was ultimately deposed through a military coup in April 2019, after ruling over the country for three decades. In August the same year, a transitional civilian-military administration was founded to run the country.
However, a military coup, led by Sudan’s military chief and de facto leader, Burhan, was staged on October 25 that dissolved the fragile government. Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok was detained and put under house arrest in a move that infuriated the Sudanese and sparked international outcry, including from the UN Security Council. Other civilian leaders were also held in military detention. The ensuing crackdown against anti-coup protesters has left at least 45 people dead and hundreds wounded.