KHARTOUM, Sudan
Sudanese security forces fired tear gas to disperse protesters trying to march on the presidential palace on Thursday amid nationwide demonstrations against October's military coup and a wave of political detentions.
The takeover ended a partnership between the
military and civilian political parties, drawing international condemnation and
plunging Sudan into political and economic turmoil.
Protests organized by neighborhood resistance
committees have drawn hundreds of thousands of people, and at least 79 have
been killed and more than 2,000 injured in crackdowns.
Hundreds of protesters diverged from planned routes
on Thursday to renew efforts to march on the presidential palace but were met
with tear gas and a heavy security presence a little more than a kilometer from
their goal.
"We will continue demonstrating in the streets
until we bring down military rule and bring back democracy," said Salah
Hamid, a 22-year-old university student.
Other protests took place across the Nile in the
cities of Omdurman and Bahri, and farther away in Gadarif and Sennar.
Sudan's long-standing economic woes have been
exacerbated since last month by the blockade of the Northern Artery, a key
route for trucks carrying exports from Sudan into Egypt.
That protest, originally against a rise in
electricity prices for farmers, has expanded to reject military rule and demand
more support for both farmers and traders. It also has trapped hundreds of
Egyptian trucks in Sudan.
While some protesters in Khartoum said they were opposing a normalization of relations with Israel, which has been spearheaded by the military, others marched for the more than 2,000 people who lawyers say have been arrested since the coup. More than 100 remain in jail, one lawyer said on Thursday.
Two prominent political critics of the military,
Khalid Omer Yousif and Wagdi Salih, were arrested on Wednesday.
Brigadier General Altahir Abu Haja, media adviser
to military ruler General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, said in a statement carried
by state news agency SUNA that their arrests were not political and that
investigations were continuing.
A prosecution statement said that Salih and others
faced charges of breaking laws related to corruption, foreign currency and
financial procedures.
The U.S. State Department said Washington, along
with Britain, Canada, Norway, Switzerland and the European Union, "condemn
this harassment and intimidation on the part of Sudan's military
authorities."
"This is wholly inconsistent with their stated
commitment to participate constructively in a facilitated process to resolve
Sudan's political crisis to return to a democratic transition," it said in
a statement, calling on the military to release all those unjustly detained and
lift a state of emergency.
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