KHARTOUM —
Sudanese security forces fired tear gas
Monday at protesters rallying against last year's military coup and the arrest
of several political figures and pro-democracy activists, an AFP correspondent
said.
اضافة اعلان
Regular mass protests have rocked the troubled northeast
African nation since an October 25 military takeover led by army chief
Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan.
The power grab derailed a fragile power-sharing agreement
between the army and civilians negotiated after the 2019 ouster of longtime
autocrat Omar AI l-Bashir, and despite international pressure, authorities have
shown little inclination to compromise, as arrests of civilian leaders have
proliferated lately.
Thousands of demonstrators rallied in the capital Khartoum
and its twin city of
Omdurman on Monday, AFP reporters said, while protests
also took place in the eastern city of Port Sudan and in the western Darfur
region, according to witnesses.
In Khartoum, protesters carried Sudanese flags and red
balloons as well as banners that read: "Today is the nation's love
day" as the rallies coincided with Valentine's Day.
Other shouted slogans demanding authorities release figures
arrested since the October military power grab.
"We are demanding the release of resistance committee
members and politicians who were unjustly arrested and some of whom are facing
fabricated charges," protester Khaled Mohamed told AFP.
Security forces fired tear gas at crowds who rallied near
the presidential palace in central Khartoum, an AFP correspondent said.
Tear gas was also fired at protesters in Omdurman and North
Khartoum, witnesses said.
Hunger strike
Detainees in Soba prison in Khartoum's periphery entered a
hunger strike to protest against prison conditions, the
independent Central Committee of Sudan Doctors said.
"Some have been detained without facing charges and
others still await investigations," this group said in a statement.
Since the coup, authorities have arrested many activists who
belong to so-called resistance committees who have been instrumental in
organizing protests.
"The number of people detained arbitrarily and without
criminal charges has exceeded 100," the Sudanese Professionals Association
said Monday.
The group, which also calls for anti-coup protests, said the
detainees are aged between 16 and 60.
On Sunday, Sudanese authorities arrested Mohamed Al-Fekki, a
civilian former member of the ruling Sovereign Council which led the country
under the 2019 power-sharing agreement.
Last week, authorities arrested ex-minister Khaled Omar
Youssef and Wagdi Saleh, the spokesman of Sudan's main civilian bloc, the
Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC).
Those arrests came just a day after they joined an FFC
delegation for talks with UN special representative
Volker Perthes, as part of
efforts launched last month to resolve Sudan's deepening crisis.
Demonstrators on Monday also held up pictures of protesters
killed since the October coup.
The doctors' committee says at least 79 people have been
killed and hundreds wounded in a crackdown on the pro-democracy demonstrators.
On Saturday, Burhan said investigations were underway to
determine who was behind those deaths.
Read more Region and World
.jpg)
.jpg)
