Thousands of Sudanese protesters rallied on Saturday, two months after a military coup, demanding troops “go back to the barracks” and change to civilian rule.
Waving flags, beating drums, dancing and chanting, crowds marched through the streets of Khartoum despite heavy deployment of security forces – who later fired tear gas to break them up.
Authorities had previously blocked bridges connecting the capital to the suburbs, cut phone lines and restricted the internet ahead of the planned protests.
At least 48 people have died during the weeks of demonstrations, according to the independent doctors’ committee, and Khartoum’s state governor has warned that security forces will “deal with those who break the law and create chaos”.
Protesters gathered at the presidential palace in Khartoum, the headquarters of the military government, since General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan seized power on October 25.
Security forces with cranes used shipping containers to block bridges across the Nile connecting Khartoum to the cities of Omdurman and northern Khartoum, and web monitoring group Netblox reported a cut in mobile Internet services at sunrise on Saturday. Gave.
Activists reported arrests of several aides starting Friday night, and Volker Perthes, the UN special envoy in Sudan, urged authorities to “protect” the protests, not stop them.
“Freedom of expression is a human right,” Mr Perth said on Saturday, adding that it includes “full access” to the Internet. “No one should be arrested with the intention of protesting peacefully.”
The governor of Khartoum warned that “accessing or attacking buildings of strategic sovereignty is punishable by law”.
Rape used as a ‘weapon’
Within hours, security forces dispersed thousands of protesters with sticks and tear gas shells.
Activists have condemned the sexual assaults during the protests, in which the United Nations said at least 13 women and girls were raped.
The European Union and the United States issued a joint statement on Thursday condemning the use of sexual violence as a weapon to drive women away from demonstrations and silence their voices.
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