Senegalese police said the death toll since Thursday had risen to 15. Two members of the security forces were among the dead, authorities said.
Clashes and protests are rocking Senegal. Photo: Reuters
After a lull during the day, protesters took to the streets again on Saturday evening, setting up barricades and setting fire to trash in Dakar's HLM district. Police fired tear gas in an attempt to disperse the angry crowds.
Gas stations and a supermarket were looted overnight on Friday. Senegal's Interior Minister Felix Abdoulaye Diome said a water plant was also targeted.
"There was a clear intention to disrupt our normal economic activity. The choice of targets was not random," Diome told journalists late Saturday, describing the situation as under control.
He added that more than 500 people have been detained since the prolonged protests began in 2021.
The latest unrest was sparked by the conviction of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko on Thursday in the rape case of a two-year-old girl. His supporters say the conviction was politically motivated and he denies any wrongdoing.
On Thursday, he was acquitted of rape but convicted in absentia of corrupting a minor and sentenced to two years in prison. That sentence could bar him from running in Senegal’s presidential election in February next year.
The government has called in the army to back up riot police stationed around the city. Dakar's Ouakam district appeared calm on Saturday evening, but more than a dozen soldiers guarded a damaged gas station there.
Abdou Ndiaye, the owner of a nearby shop, said he closed early two days earlier and opened late on Saturday, fearing unrest.
"We are very scared because you don't know when the mob will come, and when they come, they take... your goods, they are thieves," he said in a warehouse filled with sacks of food and household goods.
Mai Anh (according to Reuters)
Source
Comment (0)