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Khartoum Protesters Call on Army to Help Topple Sudan's Bashir

Khartoum Protesters Call on Army to Help Topple Sudan's Bashir

(Bloomberg) -- Thousands of protesters gathered at the Sudanese national army headquarters in the capital, Khartoum Saturday, urging the military to topple President Umar Al-Bashir.

The demonstration was called by the Sudanese Professionals Association, an outlawed grouping that includes doctors, engineers and academics, to mark the anniversary of the April 6, 1985 uprising that overthrew the government of President Gafaar Nimeiry.

“We urge the entire protesters not to leave their places and hold a sit-in in front of the National army headquarters and all the roads around it until the dictator steps down and hands over the power,” the group said in a statement. The government has made no official comment.

Al-Bashir has faced months of protest that erupted in towns countrywide against soaring living costs, prompting a brutal crackdown by the security forces and pleas to other countries for financial help. The SPA has played a leading role in sustaining the uprising, and organized a one-day strike in early March that saw doctors, teachers, pharmacists and journalists stay home.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mohammed Alamin in Nairobi at malamin1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Blaise Robinson at brobinson58@bloomberg.net, John Viljoen, Nicholas Larkin

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