Thousands rally outside Sudan army HQ as curfew begins

Thousands of Sudanese protesters rallied outside army headquarters late on Thursday, witnesses said, despite a night-time curfew imposed by the military after it ousted president Omar al-Bashir following months of demonstrations.

Protesters were chanting their slogan "peace! justice! freedom!" as they thronged the sprawling Khartoum complex for a sixth night running, witnesses said, after a military council replaced Bashir earlier on Thursday.

Thousands of protestors were staging a sit-in for the sixth night running outside Khartoum army headquarters, defying the military council's curfew began at 10:00pm despite growing international pressure to hand over to civilian rule.

The army had earlier warned protestors not to defy the curfew. 

Organisers of the protests that have rocked Sudan since December vowed to press on until the whole regime was swept aside.

The protestors' Alliance for Freedom and Change said the regime had carried out "a military coup" and kept "the same faces" protestors wanted to oust.

It urged demonstrators "to continue their sit-in in front of army headquarters and across all regions and in the streets".

Thursday's announcement meant "we have not achieved anything", said Adel, a protestor outside the army headquarters, where defiant demonstrators have braved tear gas and gunfire to keep up the sit-in.

"We will not stop our revolution. We are calling for the regime to step down, not only Bashir," he said.

Activists outside the compound were seen urging others to spend the night there despite the curfew.

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