Sudan protesters block roads to demand civilian rule

Hundreds of Sudanese protesters blocked main roads in the capital, Khartoum, and the cities of Omdurman and Bahri yesterday to demand full democratic civilian rule.

The protests were organised by the Local Resistance Committees Coordinators to demand democratic civilian rule.

The protesters closed a number of main and tertiary roads in the centre of the capital with concrete barriers, tree trunks and burning tyres.

Meanwhile, the security authorities closed the Al-Mek Nimr bridge, which links the capital with the city of Bahri as well as the streets leading to the presidential palace and the vicinity of the army’s general command, in order to prevent protesters from reaching it.

Sudan has witnessed almost daily popular protests calling for a return to democratic civilian rule and rejecting exceptional measures imposed by Army Commander Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan on 25 October 2021 including dismissing Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s transitional government and declaring a state of emergency, in a move decried by political groups as a “military coup”.

Al-Burhan has repeatedly defended his measures saying they aim to “correct the course of the transitional phase”, and pledged to hand over power through elections or a national consensus.

READ: West accuses Sudan military of retreating from cooperation with ICC