A large number of security forces were deployed on Sunday to block pro-democracy rallies in "memory of the martyrs" killed in recent protests in the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

Communications including internet and phone lines have been severely restricted, while armed officers used shipping containers to block key bridges across the Nile River connecting Khartoum to its suburbs.

Web monitoring group NetBlocks said mobile internet services were cut from midmorning ahead of the planned protests, the first of the year.

Activists use the internet for organizing demonstrations and broadcasting live footage of the rallies.

Sudan, with a long history of military coups, has undergone a fragile journey toward civilian rule since the 2019 ouster of autocrat Omar al-Bashir following mass popular protests.

But the country has been plunged into turmoil since military leader Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan – de facto leader since the ouster of Bashir – launched a coup on Oct. 25 and detained Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

Hamdok was reinstated on Nov. 21, but mass protests have continued as demonstrators distrust veteran general Burhan and his promises of seeking to guide the country toward full democracy.

53 killed since coup

Activists have kept up a more than two-month-long campaign of street demonstrations against the army's takeover, despite a crackdown that has seen at least 53 people killed and hundreds injured in protest-related violence, according to the pro-democracy Doctors' Committee group.

The protesters demand that soldiers "go back to the barracks" and are calling for a transition to civilian rule.

The rallies have been repeatedly broken up by security forces firing rounds of tear gas, as well as charges by police wielding batons and shooting bullets into the air.

On Thursday, five people were shot dead in Khartoum when security forces cracked down on mass rallies that saw tens of thousands take to the streets chanting "no to military rule."

Burhan denies the takeover was a coup, and on Friday, a close adviser warned that "the demonstrations are only a waste of energy and time" which will not produce "any political solution."

On Sunday, soldiers in armored vehicles mounted with heavy machine guns were posted at strategic road crossings, an Agence France-Presse (AFP) reporter said.

Activists say 2022 will be "the year of the continuation of the resistance" in posts on social media.

They demand justice for the dozens killed since the coup as well as for the more than 250 who died during the mass protests that began in 2019 and paved the way for the toppling of Bashir.

Activists have condemned sexual attacks during the Dec. 19 protests, in which the United Nations said at least 13 women and girls were victims of rape or gang rape.

The European Union and the United States issued a joint statement condemning the use of sexual violence "as a weapon to drive women away from demonstrations and silence their voices."

Over 14 million people, one in three Sudanese, will need humanitarian aid next year, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the highest level for a decade.