30 June 2019•Update: 01 July 2019
By Mohammed Amin
KHARTOUM, Sudan
Sudan is on high alert ahead of nationwide protests planned for Sunday to demand peaceful transfer of power to civilian authorities and investigations into the killing of protesters earlier this month.
Sunday's protests are the first since Sudanese security forces dispersed a weeks-long protest camp near the army headquarters on June 3 that left scores dead.
The ruling Transitional Military Council (TMC) has deployed additional troops and established checkpoints at main streets.
It has also prevented the opposition alliance from holding a news conference, said the Sudanese Professional Association (SPA), which is leading the protests.
“A team belonging to the TMC has raided the office of the SPA in Khartoum, preventing us from practicing our constitutional right of holding a press conference to deliver our voice to our nation,” their statement read in part.
SPA spokesman Islamil Altaj told Anadolu Agency they were mobilizing people through a door-to-door campaign amid an Internet blackout.
"We are confident that people will throng the streets for their demands and make this revolution successful," he said.
A source from the organizers told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal: “We have prepared everything even the field clinics, the houses which will back us during the attacks as well as the builders of the barricades."
An activist Zuhair Osman, 23, told Anadolu Agency that he had prepared banners and flags with his friends for the march.
"We also made masks to protect ourselves from the tear gas," he said.
The TMC has warned that the authorities will not tolerate what it described as “an attempt of chaos and sabotage”.
Addressing his supporters in the outskirts of Khartoum on Saturday, TMC deputy chairman Mohamed Hamdan Daglo warned that criminal elements could sabotage the peaceful protests in order to spread chaos.
“We have no problem with the peaceful protests and we are even ready to protect them, but we have warned that some criminals and outlaws may penetrate the march and exploit the situation," he said.
The TMC said late Friday it has accepted a proposal submitted by the African Union and Ethiopia on sharing power with the opposition.
Sudan has been in turmoil since Sudan’s military establishment deposed al-Bashir early April following months of popular demonstrations against his 30-year rule.
