Thousands of Sudanese protesters on Monday managed to break the security cordon and reach the gates of the Republican Palace to demand civilian rule.
Mass rallies took place in the capital, Khartoum, and other cities on Monday, where protesters demanded civilian rule and called on authorities to punish alleged killers of protesters, eyewitnesses said.
The police forces who used tear gas against the protesters were compelled to retreat from their station points, while military forces lined up in front of the Republican Palace gates and on the entrances of the roads surrounding it without interfering with the protesters, according to eyewitnesses.
The protesters chanted slogans, calling on the army to hand over power to a civilian government, repeating “power is for the people, and the barracks for the military.”
In Bahri town, however, the protesters could not cross the bridge linking the town with the capital, Khartoum, because of the security barricades and the intensive use of tear gas, sound bombs and water cannons by security forces, said the eyewitnesses.
In Omdurman city, security authorities also prevented protesters from crossing the bridge linking the city with Khartoum, they added. In the meantime, the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors, a non-governmental organisation, said in a statement that a protester was killed by a gunshot to the head in Omdurman on Monday. But no official source has confirmed the deadly incident yet.
Sudan has been suffering a political crisis after the General Commander of the Sudanese Army, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, declared a state of emergency on October 25, 2021, and dissolved the Sovereign Council and the government. Since then, opposition groups have been staging regular mass protests in Khartoum and other cities to demand civilian rule. -Xinhua
