The demonstrations come in conjunction with the anniversary of a coup d’état that overthrew Sudan’s last ever elected civilian government.

Tires have been torched on the streets of Sudan as mass protests kicked off on Thursday to mark the June 30 anniversary of the then-president Omar Al Bashir’s 1989 military coup, which toppled the country’s last elected civilian government.

as the people prepare to take their clinched frustrated fists to the streets on the 30th of June, marking the anniversary of the then-president Omar Al Bashir’s 1989 military coup, which toppled the country’s last elected civilian government.

As frustrated protesters clinched their fists in the streets of the Sudanese capital, social media users in and around Qatar have stormed Twitter to share images and videos from the mass protests.

Among the hashtags to surface online are #NoNegotiationsNoPartnershipNoLegitimacy (#لاتفاوض_لاشراكة_لاشرعية)  as well as #June30MillionManMarch, with activists calling for rallies to mark the “earthquake of June 30.”

Circulating videos on Thursday showed coup forces suppressing processions in Khartoum with gas bombs.

“May this day pass with no casualties, dear God,” one social media user said.

“Tomorrow is your Eid, o’ nation,” another user said on the eve of the planned demonstrations.

An AFP correspondent also reported that internet and phone lines had been disrupted since the early hours on Thursday, a measure the Sudanese authorities often impose in an attempt to silence mass demonstrations.

The demonstrators will also mark the three-year anniversary of huge marches that followed the military’s assumption of power when Al Bashir was ousted in April 2019, demanding that the generals, who had ousted him, cede power to civilians.

It is the third anniversary of the deadly sit-in dispersal, when at least 120 people were killed.

At the time, security forces violently dispersed a protest camp outside the army headquarters in the capital Khartoum on 29 June 2019. The day coincided with the 29th day of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

On 11 April 2019, Sudan’s military stepped in and toppled Al Bashir. He was later charged with incitement and involvement in the killing of protesters.

The former president also faces corruption charges, after prosecutors said a large sum of foreign currency was found in his house.

Sudan-based activists have called for mass protests on Thursday to demand the reversal of an October military coup that prompted foreign governments to withdraw aid, consequently worsening a crippling economic crisis.

The turmoil in Sudan has been ongoing since 25 October 2021, upon the military’s dismissal of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s transitional government and declaration of a state of emergency, “a move decried by political forces as a ‘military coup’.”

The 2019 protests led to the formation of the mixed civilian-military transitional government.

Before the military takeover, Sudan was governed by a sovereign council of military and civilian officials with the task of supervising the transition period until elections in 2023.

On the ground on Thursday, security forces had bolstered measures despite the recent lifting of a state of emergency

Sudan has been under intense “near-weekly” protests as the country’s economic crisis has been further exacerbated since coup leader Abdel Fattah Al Burhan seized power in 2021.

“June 30 is our way to bring down the coup and block the path of any fake alternatives,” said the Forces for Freedom and Change, an alliance of civilian groups whose leaders were ousted in the coup, according to France 24.

United Nations Special Representative Volker Perthes called on the security forces to exercise restraint as the protesters gear up for mass protest against state generals.

“Violence against protesters will not tolerated,” he said in a statement, adding that no one should “give any opportunity to spoilers who want to escalate tensions in Sudan.”

However, the country’s foreign ministry slammed the UN envoy’s remarks as being built on “assumptions” and “contradict his role as facilitator” in disrupted discussions on halting the political woe.

With the efforts of the African Union and east African bloc IGAD, the UN has been attempting to “broker talks between the generals and civilians, but they have been boycotted by all the main civilian factions,” France24 reported.

The Central Committee of Sudan Doctors said that June 30 will also witness a campaign calling for the “prohibition and criminalisation of the use of violence against peaceful protest marches, in particular the use of shotguns,” reports said.

In a statement on Sunday, the doctors central committee stressed its complete readiness to treat protesters on Thursday in field aid teams and hospital emergency wards, should individuals get injured during demonstrations.