Thousands continue to protest military rule in Sudan

In Sudan's capital Khartoum and in Omdurman, a large city located on the bank of the main Nile river, the police fired tear gas and closed major roads and streets, in an attempted to disrupt anti-coup demonstrations.

The face to face has become habitual: thousands of protestors assembled to demand the end of military rule. On Tuesday, security forces faced protesters in the streets of Khartoum. In the marches that were the first mobilizations since Abdallah Hamdok stepped down as Prime minister, the country plunged further into turmoil.

After conceding his inability to find a compromise between the ruling generals and the pro-democracy movement Hamdock threw in the towel amid political deadlock.

Full civilian rule

The protest movement insists on a fully civilian government to lead the transition, a request rejected by the generals who say power will be handed over only to an elected government. Despite their opposition, Sudanese don't seem to grow tired as thousands like Samir al-Sayed took part in Tuesday marches. "Today's protest is an episode of many previous protests that all condemn the military coup. We are trying to continue the course of our revolution and achieve a complete civilian rule. Those are the people's demands."

Waddah Hussein concurs with Samir: "Our three watchwords are: no negotiations, no partnership, no compromise in addition to the three main demands of the revolution which are freedom, peace and justice. That's it, we have no other demands."

Sudan has been politically paralyzed since the Oct. 25 coup. The military takeover came more than two years after a popular uprising forced the removal of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir and his Islamist government in April 2019.