Internet and roads cut off..Security fires tear gas at mass demonstrations in Sudan
Mass demonstrations erupted in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, on Thursday, called by the coordination of the resistance committees and the Sudanese Professionals Association, and supported by political parties.
Sudanese security forces fired tear gas canisters in the face of thousands of demonstrators who took to the streets in Khartoum against the military rule, despite the security closure of several areas in the capital, according to AFP journalists.
The demonstrators were exposed to these bombs a few hundred meters from the presidential palace, the headquarters of General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, the army chief.
Witnesses reported that similar demonstrations took place in other Sudanese cities, especially Kassala and Port Sudan (east), as well as in Kedani (south).
The demonstrations aim to confirm the rejection of the political agreement that Al-Burhan signed with Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok, following the procedures that Al-Burhan took last October.
The demonstrators raised banners and chanted slogans calling for the restoration of what they described as legitimacy and full civilian rule and an end to the military's domination of power.
Preparations for these demonstrations, which began in the southern neighborhoods of Khartoum, were prepared by the security forces, who closed bridges and main roads that lead to the vicinity of the army's general command.
And the police intensified their presence and spread in important and sovereign sites, and the authorities cut off the Internet and communications.
Internet services were apparently disrupted in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, on Thursday, before the protests, and a source in a telecommunications company told Reuters that the order to stop the services came from the Sudanese National Communications Authority.
The protests mark the eleventh day of the major demonstrations since the army seized power on October 25, which saw the ouster of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok before being reinstated.
The demonstrators are demanding that the army not have a role in the government during a transitional period that ends with free elections.
Reuters witnesses said that most of the bridges leading to Khartoum were closed, and that at least two bridges were closed with containers.
An army security checkpoint with an armored vehicle was seen at one of the open bridges.
Security forces cut off roads leading to Khartoum, on Thursday, and placed containers on bridges linking the Sudanese capital with its suburbs.
With each new call by civil authority advocates opposed to Burhan, the authorities are using new methods.
Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news