Cairo: Organisers behind Sudanese anti-government protests say the military has attempted to break up their sit-in but backed off. There were no clashes and no one was hurt.
Footage circulating online shows hundreds of troops outside the military headquarters in Khartoum on Monday. An officer is heard saying they came to “clean” the area.
Some protesters then sit down in front of the soldiers who back off.
Sudan’s military last week ousted longtime President Omar Al Bashir, saying it was responding to demands of the people.
A military council that took over promised on Sunday it wouldn’t forcefully break up the sit-in.
The Sudanese Professionals Association, which is behind the protests, is urging people to participate in the sit-in and defend it from any attempts by the military to disperse the demonstrators.
Protests have been rocking Sudan for nearly four months, culminating in the toppling of Al Bashir last week after three decades of iron-fisted rule.
But thousands of demonstrators have maintained their sit-in outside the army headquarters in Khartoum since April 6.
At first they were pushing the army to back their calls to oust Al Bashir.
Since his departure, they have called on the country’s new ruling military council to meet the demands of their “revolution”.
The Alliance for Freedom and Change has presented these demands to the military council, but says they have not yet entered negotiations.
The Sudanese Professionals Association, a group of teachers, engineers and doctors that initially spearheaded the campaign, has urged protesters to continue with the sit-in “until the revolution’s demands are met”.
The chief of the military council General Abddl Fattah Al Burhan has vowed to “uproot” Al Bashir’s regime.
The council says the ousted president is in custody, but has not offered details of his whereabouts or that of other senior regime leaders.
It has however said it will not extradite Al Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on suspicions of genocide and crimes against humanity.
Bashir has denied the charges.
What are the protesters demands?
* An immediate transfer of power to a transitional civilian government to govern for a four-year term, followed by elections.
* The dissolution of Bashir’s National Congress Party, with its top leaders brought to justice - including the ousted president.
* The confiscation of NCP properties.
* The re-instatement of the country’s 2005 constitution, which the military council suspended shortly after ousting Bashir.
* The liberation of all civilians detained in relation to the protest movement, as well as army and police personnel in detention for refusing to shoot at protesters.
* An end to the state of emergency Bashir imposed on February 22.
