Sudan: Tear gas fired at crowd in Khartoum

Thousands of Sudanese took to the streets Monday in the capital of Khartoum and other cities in the latest protests against the October military coup and a subsequent deal that reinstated Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

Footage circulated on social media supposedly showed demonstrators marching in different locations in Khartoum and its sister city of Omdurman. There were also protests in other cities, including Kassala, Sennar and Port Sudan.

Security forces fired tear gas to disperse protesters marching in a street near the presidential palace in Khartoum. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

In past rounds of demonstrations security forces used violence, including live ammunition against protesters, according to activists. At least 44 protesters have been killed and hundreds wounded since the coup, according to the Sudan Doctors Committee

The Sudanese military seized power Oct. 25, dissolving the transitional government and arresting dozens of officials and politicians.

Hamdok was reinstated last month amid international pressure in a deal that calls for an independent technocratic Cabinet under military oversight. The agreement included the release of government officials and politicians detained since the coup and the formation of an independent technocratic Cabinet led by Hamdok.

The deal, however, was rejected by the pro-democracy movement, which insists on handing over power to a civilian government to lead the transition. The protests came under the slogan of: “No negotiations, no compromise, no power-sharing" with the military.

Monday’s protests were called by the Sudanese Professionals Association and the so-called Resistance Committees, which spearheaded the uprising against al-Bashir and then the military coup.