Khartoum (ANN)-Thousands gathered outside the presidential palace in the Sudanese capital Khartoum yesterday to demand justice for demonstrators killed since December, and the appointment of a new head of the judiciary and a new public prosecutor.

Demonstrators tried to deliver a letter with their demands to the palace but were forced back by police 100 metres away from its southern gate, according to an Anadolu Agency correspondent.

The demonstrators carried banners demanding retribution for the martyrs, chanted slogans, waved flags in a sign that the protests which launched in December are still going on.

According to a statement issued by the political coalition the Forces of Freedom and Change, a “defective situation still exists in the judicial institutions and in many civil service institutions, contrary to what was agreed upon in the constitutional declaration.

It called for symbols of the former regime to be held accountable for their crimes.

Yesterday’s protest was the first such event since a power-sharing deal was signed by civilians and the military last month, which specified a transition period of 39 months before elections can be held.