Sudanese anti-coup protesters plan to flood the streets Saturday to demonstrate against a military takeover that has derailed the country’s transition to civilian rule and triggered deadly clashes.
The military on Monday detained Sudan’s civilian leadership, dissolved the government and declared a state of emergency, leading to a chorus of international condemnation.
Street protests erupted against the coup, triggering a crackdown by the security forces that has left dead at least eight demonstrators and wounded around 170.
Despite the bloodshed, the protesters remain defiant, with organisers hoping to stage a “million-strong” march against the military’s power grab on Saturday.
“We will not be ruled by the military. That is the message we will convey” at the protests, said Sudanese rights activist Tahani Abbas.
“The military forces are bloody and unjust and we are anticipating what is about to happen on the streets,” Abbas said. “But we are no longer afraid.”
Monday’s takeover was led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan — Sudan’s de facto leader since the 2019 ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir after huge youth-led protests.
Several pro-democracy activists have been arrested.
On the eve of Saturday’s rallies, a US official put the death toll at between 20 and 30, adding the protests would be a “real test” of the intentions of Sudan’s military.
“We call on the security forces to refrain from any and all violence against protesters and to fully respect the citizens’ right to demonstrate peacefully,” the official in Washington said on condition of anonymity.
Phone lines were largely down by Saturday morning, as security forces deployed in large numbers on the streets and blocked bridges connecting the capital, Khartoum, with neighbouring cities.
Security forces set up random checkpoints on main roads, randomly frisking passers-by and searching cars.
Britain’s special envoy for Sudan and South Sudan Robert Fairweather urged Sudan’s security forces to “respect freedom and right of expression” for protesters.
“Peaceful protest is a fundamental democratic right. The security services and their leaders will bear responsibility for any violence towards any protesters,” he said on Twitter.
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Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok was brought home late Tuesday, his office said, after a day of intense international pressure following his removal in a military coup.
Hamdok was “under close surveillance” while other ministers and civilian leaders remained under arrest, his office added, after the army dissolved Sudan s institutions on Monday.
Earlier in the day, the US had said it would suspend aid over the coup and the EU had threatened to do the same.
Meanwhile UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres demanded Hamdok “be released immediately” ahead of an emergency Security Council meeting that began at 2000 GMT.
The talks among the top UN powers could produce a joint text condemning the putsch later Tuesday or on Wednesday, a diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity said.
Before the meeting, Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia s deputy ambassador to the UN, said the council “should appeal to stop the violence from all sides.”
The coup comes just over two years into a delicate power-sharing arrangement between the military and civilians after the army s ousting during enormous street protests in April 2019 of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir.
Top General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had earlier vouched for Hamdok s “good health”, while a military source who requested anonymity said Hamdok had been escorted home, with “security measures” erected “around the perimeter”.
Angry citizens stood their ground on barricaded streets where tyres burned, chanting “No to military rule”, the day after four people were shot dead by security forces, according to a doctors group.
In a late Tuesday incident, witnesses in the Bari district of Khartoum said security forces fired tear gas at protesters blocking a main road in opposition to the coup.
