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At least 15 Killed in Senegal Protests after Opposition Leader Prison Sentence


Sat 03 Jun 2023 | 09:44 PM
Israa Farhan

The situation is still tense in Senegal, in the wake of clashes that resulted in 6 new deaths, bringing the death toll to 15, since Thursday, the day the opposition figure Ousmane Sonko was sentenced to two years in prison.

"On June 2, we recorded six deaths, including 4 in the Dakar region and two in the Ziguinchor region," the spokesman for Interior Minister told AFP.

Clashes broke out on Friday evening between small groups of young demonstrators and the police in Dakar, its suburbs, and the south of the country.

The Ministry of the Interior did not release any news of any incidents on Saturday afternoon.

The authorities imposed restrictions on access to social networks, as observed on Facebook, WhatsApp, and Twitter, for example, a measure to stop “the spread of messages of hate and vandalism.”

Like the previous day, the army deployed around strategic points, and police and gendarmerie elements deployed in large numbers in the capital.

Senegalese fear the repercussions of the possible arrest of opposition figure Sonko, the 2024 presidential candidate who is sentenced to two years in prison on charges of encouraging a young woman under the age of twenty-one to "debauchery".

This decision results in Sonko being stripped of his electoral eligibility.

Sonko did not stop denying the charges against him, pointing to a plot by the authorities to keep him out of the presidential elections.

It seems that the security forces are forcing him to stay in his house in Dakar, and that he is "detained" as he says.

The international community, representatives of federations, and football stars, such as star striker Sadio Mane, called to exercise restraint and reduce violence in this country known for its stability in West Africa.