SUDANESE opposition leaders have called for a “revolutionary escalation” in a bid to end the country’s military rule.

The call comes amid an increasingly tense standoff which has seen more than 100 people killed by paramilitaries.

The Alliance of Freedom and Change — an umbrella organisation of opposition groups — called for nighttime demonstrations in the capital Khartoum and other settlements across the country to break the political deadlock.

They want to increase pressure “for our main demands, which are transitional civilian rule and condemning the massacre of June 3.”

Protests started last night with further action to be held tonight and tomorrow.

“We are calling on our people in villages, towns and all over the country to participate,” the alliance said.

The Transitional Military Council, which came to power in a coup after the ousting of former authoritarian President Omar al-Bashir in April, is refusing to cede power to the people of Sudan.

Last week it moved against protesters gathered in front of the military headquarters in Khartoum by mobilising the feared Rapid Support Forces (RSF). They are headed by the TMC’s deputy leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemeti.

They slaughtered 118 people and have been accused of at least 70 rapes as their forces went on the rampage. Other violations reportedly include forcing people to drink sewage water while urinating on them.

The TMC deny ordering the bloody crackdown, after which 40 bodies were pulled out of the Nile, but have refused to allow an independent international investigation.

Last week TMC spokesman Lieutenant General Shamseddine Kabbashi angrily dismissed allegations of rape and murder as “lies.”

He insisted the council had planned to purge an area near the protest camp where people were said to have been selling drugs.

Opposition groups are fearful of a return of the bloodshed and warn they continue to face oppression with RSF paramilitaries continuing to prowl the streets of Khartoum and other areas.

Sudanese Professionals Association spokeswoman Dura Gambo said: “Street demonstrations are risky. It means more crackdown and deaths.”

But she said that protesters have no choice but to return to the streets after the TMC “started to pull out of the deals.”

A previous deal on a transitional, civilian-led framework collapsed with a failure to agree on the role of the presidency.

“There is a total impasse. The negotiations have been suspended, internet services remain blocked and the Ethiopian mediations apparently did not make progress,” she said, referring to a recent visit by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali.

Hemeti promised earlier this week that perpetrators of the violence would be held accountable and “sent to the gallows” for their actions.