Before dawn on October 25, 2021, Sudan’s fragile dream of democracy shattered. General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan sent soldiers into the streets of Khartoum, arresting Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and the civilian leaders who had steered the country since the fall of dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019. A state of emergency was declared, and the military seized control of the transitional government — ending, in a single morning, the civilian-led chapter that Sudan’s revolution had opened just two years earlier, and with it the country’s fragile post-Bashir democratic transition.

Within hours, thousands of Sudanese poured into the streets in protest, waving flags and chanting for civilian rule, answering a dawn arrest with a daylight demand. But the coup marked a turning point. The promise of a peaceful transition gave way to years of turmoil, and Sudan’s revolution was forced underground — its street movement met by a military that had decided it would not share power after all.

That is why October 25 still matters. It is the day Sudan’s democratic opening was seized before it could take root — and the day ordinary Sudanese showed, in the streets within hours, that they would not hand their revolution back without a fight.