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Sudan's protest leaders are calling for nighttime demonstrations and marches in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere in the country, amid a tense standoff with the ruling military.

The protest leaders said on Monday they've begun a "revolutionary escalation" to pressure the country's generals to hand over power to civilians and to condemn the military's violent dispersal of their sit-in camp in Khartoum earlier this month.

At least 128 people have died in the military's crackdown since the June 3 dispersal.

The group representing the protesters — known as the Forces for the Declaration of Freedom and Change — says the night rallies will begin on Tuesday and marches on Thursday.

The military, which took over after ousting longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir in April following mass protests, refuses to relinquish power.