Protests that erupted in Sudan in December over a hike in bread prices quickly escalated into nationwide demonstrations demanding that President Omar al-Bashir end his 30-year grip on power.

The protests have since Saturday been focused on the military's headquarters in Khartoum where thousands of people have been camped out to call on the army for support.

Thousands of Sudanese protesters were camped outside army headquarters for a fifth day on Wednesday demanding President Omar al-Bashir step down, after the police ordered their forces not to intervene.

In what has become the biggest challenge yet to Bashir's three decades of iron-fisted rule, crowds of demonstrators thronged the sprawling complex, singing and dancing to the tunes of revolutionary songs, witnesses said.

Sudanese security forces fired tear gas early Tuesday at thousands of anti-government protesters who had been demonstrating outside army headquarters for a third straight night, but soldiers intervened firing in the air, witnesses said.

Thousands of protesters have massed at the Khartoum complex since Saturday, urging the military to back them in demanding the resignation of President Omar al-Bashir and the formation of a transitional government.

Sudanese protesters on Monday sought talks with the army on forming a transitional government, as thousands braved a deadly crackdown by security agents for a third day to urge the military to back them.

Thousands of Sudanese held a second day of protests Sunday outside the army's headquarters in Khartoum and in the vicinity chanting slogans against President Omar al-Bashir's government, witnesses said.

The organizers behind months of anti-government demonstrations in Sudan are calling for fresh marches in the capital, Khartoum, and other cities.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, an umbrella group of independent professional unions, has been spearheading anti-government protests that erupted in December over spiraling prices and a failing economy.

Chol Deng, her husband and five children sit, exhausted, under a tree, having journeyed back to South Sudan five years after fleeing their corpse-strewn hometown Malakal.

Encouraged by a six-month lull in fighting as a peace deal holds for the first time since 2015, the family last month joined scores of others warily returning home from Ethiopia and Sudan.

Crowds of protesters rallied Sunday in Sudan to show solidarity with the unemployed, witnesses said, amid an economic crisis that has fueled months of demonstrations against President Omar al-Bashir's rule.

Scores of protesters rallied in the Sudanese capital Thursday as President Omar al-Bashir swore in a new cabinet to tackle an economic crisis that has triggered months of protests against his rule.

Sudanese authorities have released a senior opposition leader who had been detained since December in connection with demonstrations against President Omar al-Bashir's rule, his party said on Tuesday.