Anti-military protests break out across Sudan as economy falters

Hundreds of people in the Sudanese city of Atbara protested against the country's military authorities on Sunday, calling for a return to "democratic civilian rule".

The protesters burned tires and carried signs saying "No to Military Rule", "Yes to a Civil State", and "Freedom, Peace and Justice".

Protests also broke out in the capital Khartoum on Monday, calling attention to the continued detention of several politicians and citizens in previous protests.

Lawyers say that protesters previously accused of killing a police officer may have been tortured.

Demonstrations also took place in the cities of Nyala and Damazin.

In October last year, Sudan's ruling general, Abdul Fattah Burhan, who chaired the Transitional Sovereignty Council, overthrew the country's prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok and placed him under house arrest.

While Hamdok was later released and reinstated, the military still dominates the country and Hamdok resigned again in January.

Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds more injured in continuing protests against the October coup and military rule.

The Sudanese economy has severely deteriorated since the coup, with the Sudanese pound losing about a third of its value, mostly over the last month. Prices for bread and petrol have risen sharply in recent weeks.

The coup resulted in the already-struggling country being cut off from foreign aid, the military has pushed forward with economic reforms, including last week ending government management of the exchange rate.

Social media users recalled that the actions were reminiscent of initial student protests against the regime of long-time dictator Omar al-Bashir in December 2018 which were sparked by bread prices.

Those protests eventually resulted in the 2019 toppling of Bashir and his replacement with a civilian-military power-sharing agreement which lasted until last October's the coup.

Teachers also continued a strike on Monday, as did railway workers, protesting low salaries.

Reuters contributed to this report.