Mass rallies were taking place across Sudan Wednesday to protest military rule as the country marks the third anniversary of the toppling of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir.
Pro-democracy groups called for widespread demonstrations to denounce last October’s military coup, which sent Sudan’s economy into freefall and upended plans for a transition towards civilian rule.
Ahead of the protests – the first during the holy month of Ramadan – Sudanese authorities reportedly blocked bridges across the capital, Khartoum, and declared a national holiday.
Posts on twitter under the hashtags such as “the storm of April 6” and “the earthquake of April 6” showed people turning out across the nation.
This tweet from a march in the eastern city of El-Gadarif said: “In the glory of the sun, heat and fasting, the voice of the revolutionaries shakes the earth.”
Important date
An historically symbolic date, 6 April also marks Sudan’s 1985 popular uprising that putt an end to years of harsh rule under former president Jaafar Nimeiri.
Decades later, protesters in the capital Khartoum staged a mass sit-in that forced the military to remove al-Bashir and his Islamist government.
The peaceful encampment has been described as one of the largest protests in Sudan’s modern history.
Hopes of democracy were derailed, however, by the military takeover – led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
Ever since, protesters have since been taking to the streets in a bid to bring down the coup.
Demanding civilian rule, the demonstrators fiercely reject measures taken by al-Burhan to impose a state of emergency and remove the transitional government.
Al-Burhan denies having staged a military coup, arguing the measures were aimed at “correcting the course of the transitional period”.
He has promised to hand over power either through elections or a national consensus.