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Protesters urge night rallies amid standoff with army

Published:Tuesday | June 18, 2019 | 12:00 AM
The Associated Press
Military forces secure the area outside while Sudan’s ousted president, Omar al-Bashir, is questioned at the prosecutor’s office over charges of corruption and illegal possession of foreign currency in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, on Sunday, June 16.

KHARTOUM (AP):

Sudan’s protest leaders are calling for night time demonstrations and marches in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere in the country, amid a tense standoff with the ruling military.

The protest leaders said on Monday they’ve begun a “revolutionary escalation” to pressure the country’s generals to hand over power to civilians and to condemn the military’s violent dispersal of their sit-in camp in Khartoum earlier this month.

At least 128 people have died in the military’s crackdown since the June 3 dispersal.

The group representing the protesters – known as the Forces for the Declaration of Freedom and Change – says the night rallies will begin tonight (yesterday) and marches on Thursday.

The military, which took over after ousting long-time autocrat Omar al-Bashir in April following mass protests, refuses to relinquish power.