Reports from Sudan say at least 11 people were killed in the latest mass protests demanding a transition to civilian rule in the country.

Police fired tear gas as tens of thousands of people took to the streets on Sunday in the capital Khartoum and other areas in the first such demonstration since a June deadly crackdown on protesters.  More demonstrations were reported Monday.

Protest organizers took to Facebook to decry the actions by the military on Sunday.

“The military council is completely responsible for these lives lost,” Mohamed Naji al-Assam, a prominent protest leader, said in a video on his Facebook page.

The generals also took to Facebook to lay blame on the protest movement, Alliance for Freedom and Change.

“Freedom and Change bears the entire responsibility for these violations and the casualties among regular forces and citizens,” said General Jamal Omer in a video posted on the ruling military government’s Facebook page.

Tensions between protesters demanding civilian rule and military leaders have been rising since the coup that forced out the long-ruling autocrat Omar al-Bashir.   Talks between the two sides collapsed on June 3, when the military lethally dispersed a protest sit-in outside military headquarters in Khartoum.  Protest organizers said the death toll from the crackdown was at least 128, while authorities claim it was 61, including three security personnel.

The European Union and several Western countries have called on the generals to avoid bloodshed.

Ethiopia and the African Union have offered a plan for a civilian-majority body, which the generals say could be the basis for new negotiations.

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