KHARTOUM: Thousands of Sudanese protesters rallied on Saturday two months after a military coup, demanding soldiers “go back to the barracks” and calling for a transition to civilian rule.

Waving flags, beating drums, dancing and chanting, crowds marched on the streets of Khartoum despite a heavy deployment of security forces — who later fired tear gas to break them up.

Officers had earlier blocked bridges connecting the capital to suburbs, cut phone lines and restricted the internet ahead of the planned protests.

At least 48 people have died in crackdowns during weeks of demonstrations, according to the independent Doctors’ Committee, and Khartoum’s state governor has warned that security forces “will deal with those who break the law and create chaos”.

Demonstrators converged on the presidential palace in Khartoum, the headquarters of the military government in control since General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan seized power on October 25.

Burhan held civilian leader Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok effectively under house arrest for weeks, but after international pressure reinstated him on November 21 under a deal promising elections for July 2023.

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2021