On the day in late March when Habeb Ali Yousif was released from three months in detention, his jailers dragged out the process.

When he eventually arrived back home, the Sudanese democracy activist discovered why: his wife, Sulaf Osam Baloul, had been seized.

“They planned it. They made me some coffee and kept me in the office, knowing she was alone,” said Yousif, who had been picked up on 25 December on his way to one of the first protests in Khartoum against the regime of Omar al-Bashir.

“I didn’t get to the protest. They arrested me before I’d even seen a thing,” he said, adding that while in detention he was beaten, damaging his sight in one eye.

For Baloul, whose father was executed by the regime in 1990, the ostensible reason for her detention were her Facebook posts. She believes that in reality the intention was to intimidate her and her husband. Like others detained by the feared NISS security forces during months of protests in Khartoum and across the country, that intimidation failed.

The moment Baloul was released, on 10 April, she went home, changed her clothes and headed straight out with her husband to the continuing sit-in outside the military’s main headquarters.

After almost 30 years in power, Omar al-Bashir, was ousted by the military. Photograph: Abd Raouf/AP

On 11 April, after almost 30 years in power, Bashir was ousted by the military and the NISS said all political prisoners had been released. But the protesters stayed, calling for the guarantee of a transition to civilian government after decades of military rule.

Among the milling, chanting crowds are others whose first instinct having been released from detention was to return to the demonstrations.

Musab Hassouna, a film-maker who works with young people, was held for 45 days before his release on 10 April.

“[The authorities] had tracked my phone and picked me as I was visiting a friend who is also an activist. They took me to the Shandi bus station prison and they asked me why I was always supporting the protests,” said the 29-year-old referring to notorious jail north of Khartoum

While in detention, Musab Hassouna, a film-maker, thought he would be executed. Photograph: Peter Beaumont/The Guardian

Put in a tiny cell with other activists, he was largely cut off from news from outside, fearful that the protests would fail and he would be jailed for a long time.

“We didn’t think the protests were large enough [to remove Bashir]. Then, around 6 April we began to hear how big they were. We could hear gunfire and we heard 20 people had been killed at the sit in. Later we could hear the guards preparing their guns.”

The thought occurred to Hassouna that they could be executed.

“We were told we were going to be moved to Dabak, a prison for political prisoners. Then it seems they changed their minds,” he added.

Hassouna said there was no question of not returning immediately to the protest frontline.

“No one [in the international community] supported us over the last five months,” he said. “This is our movement. We are worried about the next steps so we are here protesting because we need to defend it.”

Although most of the protesters are still full of the optimism after Bashir’s fall, all are acutely aware – both from the lessons of 2011 Arab spring and from Sudan’s own turbulent history – that their revolution is unfinished and still vulnerable.

Protesters chant slogans as they gather near the military headquarters in Khartoum over the weekend. Photograph: Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty Images

Ali Elhasan was arrested and detained for months and has been at the protest sit-in since his release.

A well-known activist figure, the 29-year-old is among a group that began pushing early in the protests for daily demonstrations, in opposition to the Sudanese Professional Association, an umbrella group of trade unions, which wanted a more incremental approach.

Arrested in January, he was taken to the so-called “refrigerator” at Shandi prison.

“I have been sleeping here since I got out [on 10 April],” he said at a pavement cafe at the sit-in. “We won’t allow decisions to be made away from people. It has to be transparent. We’re here to keep up pressure on the [opposition coalition] so that they understand that their negotiations with the Transitional Military Council are on behalf of the protesters.”

For Yousif, keeping up momentum is essential. “[The old regime] is still represented in the security forces and in the economy. They have militias and they still have guns and they have money. We have a window of opportunity … We can’t wait.”