Ahmed Fadl-Khartoum

The first anniversary of the fall of the ousted president, Omar al-Bashir, baffled in Sudan, who banned gatherings due to the Corona pandemic, as well as the fact that the rebels consider April 6 as the day of transit and not the date of al-Bashir's isolation on 11 of it.

On April 6, 2019, a demonstration called by the Alliance of Freedom and Change Forces managed to reach the square opposite the army command in Khartoum, where hundreds of thousands of protesters demanded that Al-Bashir step down, which happened days later.

Sudan experienced two revolts against military regimes on October 21, 1964, and April 6, 1985.

The December 2018 revolution recalled the anniversary of the April uprising, resolving four months of protests through a procession that turned into a sit-in that ended the Bashir regime on this day last year, ending an era that spanned 30 years out of a total of 64 years, the age of Sudan after independence.

A different celebration
The Field Work Committee of the Forces for Freedom and Change created what it called "From your place, chant your chanting", in compliance with the authorities' directives to prevent gatherings and prohibit roaming in the evening to avoid the spread of the Corona virus.

The committee's directives included the commemoration of the April 6 procession and the fall of al-Bashir, by avoiding processions, making chants of the revolution, raising the Sudanese flag in homes, cars, and streets, and publishing pictures and memories of the processions of the revolution.

The committee stated in a statement that the health conditions that the country is going through reduced the activities of the first anniversary from collective to individual tasks in anticipation of contact, and she apologized, saying that "a great memory like this passes without setting collective duties that we all participate in."

Activist Shahinaz Jamal, on her Facebook page, broadcast her memories during the sit-in days in front of the Army General Command.

Popular mood
Activists celebrated a rebel photo celebrating the memory of the April 6 motorcade alone from the top of the three-story building, raising the Sudanese flag and burning a tire.

According to activists, women and men interacted with the revolutionary by shouting shouting and chanting slogans of the revolution.

As for retired police officer Omar Othman, he justified the Sudanese celebration of the sixth of April more than they celebrated the fall of Al-Bashir, saying: “It is clear that the popular mood tends to celebrate April 6 more than April 11, considering that the first is the true mass victory and the official holiday of the revolution.”

As a precaution, the army forces closed the roads leading to the General Command of the Armed Forces from last Monday morning until Saturday, fearing that any protesters would reach the area.

Platform controversy
Despite the passing of the anniversary of the procession and the fall of Al-Bashir without noise, heavy confusion prevailed on social media platforms after information leaked that former Director of the Security and Intelligence Service Salah Gosh had facilitated the arrival of the picket procession to the army command.

The journalist Lina Yaqoub reported this information in a column against which he raised a campaign against which she was forced to broadcast illustrations via a video clip on her Facebook page.

A member of the Field Work Committee, Ali Farisab, denies that any security agency has tolerated any of the protesters, who managed to storm the street overlooking the army’s command last year.

Farisab admits to Al Jazeera Net that they did not expect the large crowd of the procession, which was estimated at hundreds of thousands, which forced the security forces and the police to withdraw, and thus the revolutionaries quickly entered the sit-in at one o'clock in the afternoon.

He confirms that the idea of ​​the sit-in was in mind, but according to indications that include the large number of protesters and the accessibility of the army command, he adds that a small number of members of the 15-20-member committee believed that the army could access the leadership and carry out the sit-in.

The idea of ​​a sit-in
Activist Muhammad Bashir Al-Amin believes that the sit-in as an idea has always been seen by activists who have been used to meeting the demonstrations' calls, and whenever they exceeded the barricades of the security forces in each procession, they would sit in the place they reached.

Mahasin Mustafa, deputy secretary of the organization in the teachers ’sector in the Federal Assembly, remembers the procession day, saying that it was in the afternoon of that day that a conviction of the sit-in began, but without a clear idea.

She notes that there may be plans for field action leaders to sit-in, but no one expected the large crowd of the convoy and the army's protection of the sit-in.

However, the journalist Aqeel Ahmed Naim, tells Al-Jazeera Net that the sit-in was an improvised idea that was born out of a defining moment, which is the protesters ’sense of accomplishing their arrival to lead the army, which requires taking advantage of the matter and not leaving the place without Bashir to step down.

Aqeel attributed the ease of access of protesters to the army headquarters to the limited police and security forces in the streets leading to the headquarters, as well as these forces avoiding the use of lethal force against demonstrators for fear of the global media.

He explains that the forces on that day also seemed to be surprised by the large crowds that took to the streets, and confused accounts of their handling of the situation in the field.