Sudan hit by mass protests after prime minister's resignation

Sudanese security forces have fired tear gas at protesters who have taken to the streets after Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok resigned, leaving the army in control again.

Protesters gathered outside the presidential palace in the capital, Khartoum, on Tuesday, in a bid to keep up the pressure on the junta.

Streets leading to the palace and army headquarters were sealed off amid a heavy presence of troops, riot police, and paramilitary units, witnesses told AFP.

Protesters in east Khartoum "burnt car tires and built rock barricades on the streets," one witness said. Other protesters urged the military "to go back to the barracks."

Thousands of protesters were also rallying across the country, chanting slogans against the military, which took power in a coup and temporarily toppled Hamdok's government back in October.

In the capital, authorities closed roads in an effort to prevent the demonstrators from reaching key government buildings.

Hamdok, who had been put under house arrest by the military, returned to power in November under a deal signed with military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. But he announced his resignation on Sunday, after his government failed to "reach a consensus" with the military, according to himself.

"In view of the fragmentation of the political forces and conflicts between the military and civilian components of the transition... despite everything that has been done to reach a consensus... it has not happened," he said in a TV address on Sunday.

Sudan's PM Hamdok resigns, warns the country is 'sliding towards disaster'

Sudan

Sudanese people, who had denounced the military's power grab, also rejected its deal with the prime minister, whom they accused of "betrayal."

A senior military official previously claimed that Hamdok had knowingly participated in last years' military coup against his own government. General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the deputy head of Sudan's governing sovereign council, claimed in an interview with Al Jazeera that the prime minister had been "completely agreeable" to the coup and that the military "did not make such a move on our own."

The coup has triggered mass demonstrations and entailed a bloody crackdown that has left at least 57 people dead and hundreds wounded, according to the independent Doctors' Committee.

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After Hamdok's resignation, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called on Sudanese security forces to exercise utmost restraint and fulfill their obligations in relation to the rights to freedom of assembly and expression. Guterres made the remarks on Monday, saying he regretted that "a political understanding on the way forward is not in place, despite the gravity of the situation."

Analysts have warned that the prime minister's resignation has left the military in full command and threatens a return to the policies of ousted President Omar al-Bashir.

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