Issued on:
Local resistance committees and the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) have organized a two-day protest to protest against the military coup d’etat carried out last month,
Residents said that people were out on Sunday in Khartoum, the capital, but there were less than usual.
Protests were limited because of internet and telephone cuts
“A number of people did not know about the call for civil disobedience because of the internet cut,” one resident of central Khartoum told Reuters newswire.
Internet and phone service is intermittent since the 25th of October coup, but after mass closure of a number of shops and banks, some are beginning to reopen.
Some hospitals and medical staff in Khartoum were working as usual, but others were on strike.
According to a teachers’ union, security forces used tear gas to break up a sit-in where people were opposed to giving positions to military appointees. More than 85 people were arrested at the education ministry.
Tear gas was used in other parts of the city against protesters, as witnesses noted security forces in civilian clothing working with police.
The cities of Medani, Nyala and Atbara also reportedly held protests against the reappointment of Bashir loyalists in local government.
Former rebels reject the coup
As people continue to protest on the streets of the capital and around the country, others, including former rebels who had been a part of the peace agreement after strongman Omar al-Bashir was deposed, say they have rejected the coup.
The Sudanese Revolutionary Front, an umbrella group of former rebels, has rejected the coup. This includes three men who were on the power sharing military-civilian council: Elhadi Idris and Altahir Hajar from Darfur and Malik Agar of the southern SPLM-N.
The military actions of 25 October eliminated the power-sharing agreement between the military and civilians and the promise of elections by late 2023.
Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok remains under house arrest but has been conducting meetings. On Sunday he met with an Arab League delegation who issued a statement calling for the importance of dialogue and the return to power sharing.
They also met separately with coup leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the former head of the Transitional Military Council and head of the armed forces.
