Sudan protest group says army trying to disperse sit-in

A Sudanese protest group on Monday said the army was trying to disperse a sit-in outside the military headquarters in Khartoum by removing barricades, but witnesses said troops had not moved in.

Thousands of protesters remain encamped outside the army headquarters, almost three weeks after the military and security forces removed former president Omar al-Bashir from power on 11 April.

The demonstrators want the ruling military council to hand over power to a civilian administration.

"The military council is a copy cat of the toppled regime. The army is trying to disperse the sit-in by removing the barricades," said the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), the group that first launched the protest movement against Bashir's regime.

"We are calling on our people to come immediately to the sit-in area. We are calling on the revolutionaries to protect the barricades and rebuild them."
"We will continue our sit-in until the power is transferred to civilians."
"Given the responsibility of protecting the citizens, the military council will end these attempts which are against the chant of the revolution of 'peace, justice, freedom'."