Sudan Rocked by Protests Amid Warnings of a Coup

NAIROBI, Kenya — Sudanese protesters took to the streets of the capital early on Monday,injecting another note of instability in the northeast African nation’s fragile transition to democracy.

The demonstrations come about one month after the authorities said they had thwarted a coup attempt by loyalists of the deposed dictator Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

The possibility of a successful coup has haunted the country’s transitional government since 2019, when Mr. al-Bashir was overthrown, and Sudan has been rocked by recent protests.

The demonstrators are split generally along two lines: those who helped topple Mr. al-Bashir after widespread mass protests, and those who back a military government.

Relations between the leaders of the transitional government, which is made up of civilian and military officials, have been strained. In recent days, pro-military protesters have demanded the dissolution of the transitional cabinet, a step many pro-democracy groups have denounced as setting the stage for a coup.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, the main pro-democratic political group,urged people to take to the streets to resist what they called a “military coup.”

“The revolution is a revolution of the people,” the group — which is made up of doctors, engineers and lawyers organizations — said in a Facebook post. “Power and wealth belongs to the people. No to a military coup.”

As the protests intensified on Monday, NetBlocks, an internet monitoring organization, said there had been a “significant disruption” to internet services affecting cellphone and some fixed lines in the country.

Television stations showed footage of protesters burning tires in the streets of Khartoum, the capital, with plumes of smoke filling the skies.

“The people are stronger,” pro-democracy demonstrators chanted as some clapped and the procession of demonstrators grew larger.