Nine people died in clashes with police in Senegal on Thursday (1st) during demonstrations against the prison sentence for opposition leader Ousmane Sonko.
The presidential hopeful was sentenced to two years in prison for corrupting a youth, a verdict that casts doubt on his chances of running for president next year and which the opposition says is politically motivated.
Cheikh Anta Diop University in the capital Dakar became the epicenter of violence, with protesters torching buses and throwing stones at riot police, who responded with tear gas.
This Friday (2), security forces patrolled the quiet streets of Dakar, littered with burnt tires, stones and broken glass, as well as damaged homes and businesses. Large groups of students were bussed off the university campus with their belongings.
Thursday’s rebellion was the latest in months of violent protests in Senegal, long considered one of West Africa’s strongest democracies, sparked by Sonko’s court case but also by concerns that President Macky Sall will try to circumvent the two-term limit and run again in the February elections. Sall neither confirmed nor denied this.
More unrest is expected on Friday. Sonko’s PASTEF party urged citizens in a statement to “stop all activities and take to the streets”.
Sonko, 48, was accused of raping a woman working at a massage parlor in 2021, when she was 20, and making death threats against her.
A criminal court cleared Sonko of rape but found him guilty of a separate offense described in the penal code as immoral behavior towards individuals under the age of 21. He denies wrongdoing.
(Posted by Fabio Mendes)
Source: CNN Brasil
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