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Sudan Forces Block Protest Press Conference Ahead of Rally

Agence France-Presse

   Members of Sudan's powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces prevented
   protest leaders from addressing journalists on Saturday, the eve of a
   mass rally against the ruling generals,protestorganizerssaid.
   Sudan's umbrella protest movement, the Alliance for Freedom and Change,
   has called for a "million man" march Sunday in Khartoum and its twin
   city, Omdurman, against the ruling generals, who have resisted calls to
   cede power to civilians.
   The movement's key group, the Sudanese Professionals Association, had
   called for a media briefing on Saturday evening to unveil plans for the
   rally, but it was blocked by members of the RSF, protest leader Ahmed
   al-Rabie said.
   "Before we could start the press conference, three vehicles from RSF,
   full of armed men, came to our building and told us not to hold the
   press conference," Rabie said.
   They "also ordered all the people there to leave the building," he
   added.
   A Sudanese journalist at the site confirmed that armed men had
   prevented him and other journalists from attending the briefing in
   Khartoum's eastern district of Burri, a hotbed of protests.
   Rabie said two leaders from the movement had been arrested on Friday.
   Sunday's mass protest is the first such rally called by the alliance
   since a deadly crackdown on a protest camp on June 3 left dozens dead
   and hundreds killed.
   Tensions remain high between the two sides despite Ethiopian and
   African Union efforts to mediate a solution to the crisis.
   Sudan's generals seized power after the army ousted longtime ruler Omar
   al-Bashir on April 11 following months of protests againsthis rule
   spearheaded by the Alliance for Freedom and Change.
   But they have since resisted calls to hand power to civilians.