Sudan’s leading protest group on Monday said the military has been trying to remove barricades to disperse a sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khartoum. The witnesses, however, refuted the report saying the troops had not moved in.
“The military council is a copy cat of the toppled regime,” said the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), the group that was at the forefront in the protest movement against al-Bashir’s regime, reported Aljazeera. “The army is trying to disperse the sit-in by removing the barricades.”
The protest group also made an appeal to the people to join them in the sit-in area to protect the barricades.
“We are calling on our people across Sudan to show that they reject the attack on the sit-in and attempts to disperse it until we achieve our demand of having a civilian authority,” the SPA said.
The announcement came after the spokesman of the ruling military council, Lieutenant General Shamseddine Kabbashi, said on Monday that the military had agreed with protest leaders to open some roads, bridges and railway line that lead to the military headquarters.
The Alliance for Freedom and Change, the umbrella group leading the protest movement, refuted the announcement saying that it was completely false.
“We didn’t have any agreements on removing the barricades or opening the bridges in our sit-in area in the capital or across the country,” the group said. “We will continue our sit-in until the power is transferred to civilians.”
The military council said the barricades and civilian check posts threatened public security. Mr. Kabbashi said a number of cases of looting of properties, beating of citizens, blocking roads, attacking security forces and preventing trains from carrying essential items have so far been reported.
He added that in order to protect the citizens, the military council will end attempts that are against the chant of the revolution of peace, justice, and freedom.
