KHARTOUM —
Sudanese security forces fired tear gas
Monday at crowds calling for civilian rule and demanding justice for the scores
killed in crackdowns since a military coup nearly three months ago.
اضافة اعلان
Thousands of protesters in the capital Khartoum chanting
slogans against the army headed toward the presidential palace, an area which
security forces had sealed off ahead of the march.
Police forces later fired tear gas to disperse the
protesters, according to an AFP correspondent.
Protests were also held in cities including
Wad Madani,
south of the capital, the Red Sea city of Port Sudan, and the eastern state of
Gedaref, according to witnesses.
"No, no to military rule," and "civilian
(rule) is the people's choice" protesters shouted in Wad Madani, according
to witness Emad Mohamed.
Sudan has been rocked by regular protests since the October
25 military power grab led by general
Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan.
The coup derailed a civilian-military power-sharing deal,
that had been painstakingly negotiated after the 2019 ouster of autocrat Omar
al-Bashir, stalling a planned for transition to civilian rule.
Anti-coup demonstrations have left at least 73 people killed
and hundreds wounded, according to medics.
Sudan's authorities have repeatedly denied using live
ammunition against demonstrators, and insist scores of security personnel have
been wounded during protests.
A police general was stabbed to death during the unrest
earlier this month.
Mass arrests
On Sunday, Sudan's key Umma party vowed "to remove all
traces of the coup".
It however warned that the "coup leadership" will
"persist with its brutality and come up with new ways to commit violent
massacres and launch mass arrests of revolutionaries."
Hundreds of pro-democracy activists have been arrested in
the crackdown on anti-coup activists.
On Saturday, a leading women rights activist Amira Othman
was arrested following a raid on her home in Khartoum, according to a statement
by the "No to Women's Oppression" initiative which she leads.
UN special representative Volker Perthes slammed Othman's
arrest saying the "arrest and pattern of violence against women's rights
activists severely risks reducing their political participation."
Other activists from the "resistance committees",
informal groups which have been instrumental in organizing anti-coup protests,
were also arrested late Sunday, according to members who requested anonymity
fearing reprisals.
On Friday, Sudanese authorities requested delaying the
arrival of UN expert on human rights in Sudan, Adama Dieng, who was appointed
in November and had been due to make his first official visit.
Last week, senior US diplomats visited Sudan in a bid to
bolster UN-led efforts to cajole the military into restoring a transition to
full civilian rule.
Perthes earlier this month launched individual talks with
various Sudanese factions in a push to resolve the crisis.
The ruling Sovereign Council — formed by Burhan following
the coup with himself as chairman — has welcomed the UN-led dialogue, as have
the US, Britain, neighboring Egypt, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia.
The Forces for Freedom and Change, Sudan's main civilian
bloc, also joined consultations "to restore the democratic
transition".
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