Sudan police use tear gas at protests after deadliest day for demonstrators

Street clashes have again shaken Sudan's capital a day after security forces shot dead 15 protesters in the bloodiest day since the military's October 25 takeover.

Police fired tear gas to disperse dozens of anti-coup protesters on Thursday who had stayed on the streets of north Khartoum overnight, witnesses said.

Police tore down makeshift barricades the protesters had erected the previous day.

Later in the day, dozens of protesters returned to rebuild them and police again fired tear gas in a bid to clear the streets, witnesses said.

"Protesters responded by hurling stones at the police," one witness said.

READ MORE: Sudan protest death toll ticks up in bloodiest day since putsch

Thousands took to the streets on Wednesday in Khartoum and other cities but were met by the deadliest crackdown since the coup. 

A group of neighbourhood resistance committees coordinating the pro test movement in east Khartoum announced in a statement "open escalation" against the coup until its overthrow.

"Now we are making consultations among the resistance committees about upping the escalation against the coup," a senior member of the committees in the capital said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

READ MORE: Casualties mount as Sudanese forces crack down on anti-coup protests 

At least 15 people, mostly from northern Khartoum, were killed on Wednesday alone, according to medics, raising the death toll of protesters to 39 in recent weeks. 

Wednesday's demonstrations were organised despite a near-total shutdown of internet services and disruption of telephone lines across Sudan. 

By Thursday morning, phone lines had been restored but internet services remained largely cut. 

Bridges connecting the capital with its neighbouring cities reopened and traffic again flowed through many streets in Khartoum. 

"We condemn violence towards peaceful protestors and call for the respect and protection of human rights in Sudan," said the US State Department's Bureau of African Affairs on Twitter.

Military takeover

Top general Abdel Fattah al Burhan – Sudan's de facto leader since the April 2019 ouster of president Omar al-Bashir – detained the civilian leadership and declared a state of emergency on October 25. 

The move upended Sudan's fragile transition to full civilian rule, drawing wide international condemnation and a flurry of punitive measures and aid cuts. 

Burhan insists the military's move "was not a coup" but a step to "rectify the course of the transition" to civilian rule.