Police and protesters clashed in unrest across Senegal
DAKAR, March 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Violent protests have hit Senegal for a third day as demonstrators burnt cars and clashed with police after the arrest of an opposition leader on Wednesday.
Four people have died in the rare unrest, the interior minister said.
Ousmane Sonko appeared in court on Friday accused of disrupting public order. He also faces a rape allegation.
He denies the allegations and his supporters say the accusations are politically motivated.
On Friday Interior Minister Antoine Felix Abdoulaye Diome vowed to use “all the means necessary for a return to order”.
Speaking on national TV, Diome accused Sonko of “issuing calls to violence”.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged protesters and police to refrain from violence in the nation which is one of West Africa’s most stable countries.
The United Nations’ special envoy for West Africa Mohamed Ibn Chambas has also appealed for calm.
On Friday police fired tear gas at Sonko’s supporters, who set up makeshift barricades in the capital Dakar where the ground was covered in burnt debris and people chanted “Free Sonko”.
Police blocked motorbikes and mopeds, which are popular among Sonko’s young supporters, from the city’s streets.
Demonstrators have gathered in the city’s surrounding areas and in the southern city of Bignona, a stronghold of Sonko.
Two private TV channels that covered the protests have been suspended for 72 hours by the government.
Some of the protesters have targeted French-owned businesses such as supermarkets and petrol stations because they say that under President Macky Sall, France has extended its economic interests in its former colony.
Sonko, 46, was accused of rape in February by a woman who worked in a beauty salon.
Following an investigation he was arrested on Wednesday and taken to court accompanied by a group of supporters.
Police said they then arrested him for disrupting public order when he refused to change his route to the court.
Sonko says the allegations of rape are fabricated. He accuses Sall of trying to remove potential opponents ahead of the 2024 election. Two other opposition leaders were excluded from the 2019 election after being convicted on charges which they said were politically motivated.
In 2014 Sonko founded his own political party, Pastef-Les Patriotes, and came third in the 2019 presidential election with 15% of the vote. — NNN-AGENCIES