Sudan deploys troops, cuts internet ahead of anti-coup protests
Troops deployed across Sudan's Khartoum and closed almost all bridges over the Nile River linking the capital with its twin city of Omdurman and the district of Bahri.
Recent protests have seen thousands gather at key government buildings.
Sudan has cut phone lines and restricted internet ahead of planned mass protests against a military coup.
Security forces have been deployed across Khartoum on Saturday blocking bridges connecting the capital to suburbs.
Activists, who have been using the internet for organising recent mass demonstrations, had planned the latest in a series of street protests for Saturday - two months since the military, led by General Abdel Fattah al Burhan, launched the October 25 takeover.
Khartoum's state governor has warned that security forces "will deal with those who break the law and create chaos".
Protesters have called for fresh rallies online, encouraging supporters with the slogans "no negotiations" with the army and demanding "the soldiers back to barracks".
But bridges connecting Khartoum across the Nile River to the cities of Omdurman and North Khartoum have been blocked since Friday evening.
Security forces also blocked the main streets in central Khartoum where organisers were planning to hold the demonstrations.
Recent protests have seen thousands gather at key government buildings, including outside parliament, the presidential palace and the army headquarters.
Khartoum's governor warned that "approaching or attacking buildings of strategic sovereignty is punishable by law".
READ MORE: Sudan's pro-democracy protests leave dozens injured
Military crackdown
Burhan held civilian leader Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok under effective house arrest for weeks following the military takeover, but reinstated him on November 21.
The move alienated many of Hamdok's pro-democracy supporters, who dismissed it as providing a cloak of legitimacy for Burhan's coup.
At least 48 people have died in crackdowns on protesters since the military takeover, according to the independent Doctors' Committee, with security forces firing live bullets and tear gas canisters.
Sudan, one of the world's poorest countries, has a long history of military coups, enjoying only rare interludes of democratic rule since independence in 1956.
Over 14 million people, a third of Sudan's population, will need humanitarian aid next year, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the highest level in a decade.
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