SENEGALESE PROTEST ELECTION-POSTPONEMENT, WHILE INTERNET SHUTDOWN
DAKAR - Riot police fired tear gas outside Senegal’s National Assembly on Monday as crowds tried to gather to protest the postponement of the Feb. 25 presidential election, a move that caused anger and unrest over the weekend.
Senegal has never postponed a presidential election, and Sall’s announcement on Saturday pitched the West African nation into uncharted constitutional waters that threaten to further tarnish its reputation has a bastion of democratic stability in a region swept by coups.
Outside parliament, armoured police fired tear gas in an attempt to disperse around 100 people who had gathered to protest. They also made arrests, Reuters reporters said.
Sall said he delayed the election due to a dispute over the candidate list and alleged corruption within the constitutional body that handled the list.
Several prominent opposition figures, including Sonko, were barred from running for president, stoking discontent about the election process.
But there has been strong pushback against the delay, which some opposition and civil society groups have called an “institutional coup”. Some contenders have said they would still push ahead with campaigns meant to kick off over the weekend. Others have vowed to challenge the postponement in court.
At least two female presidential candidates were detained when police in riot gear broke up protests in the capital Dakar on Sunday, firing tear gas and rounding up participants.
Meanwhile, Mobile internet access has been temporarily cut, the government announced on Monday, a day after hundreds protested President Macky Sall’s postponement of the presidential election.
It had to be done to halt the spread of “hateful and subversive messages relayed on social networks in a context of threats of disturbances to public order”, said Communication Minister Moussa Bocar Thiam.
It comes a day after Senegalese took a private television channel off air, accusing it of inciting violence in its coverage of the protests.
Amnesty International’s Senegal chapter has condemned the government’s actions and urged it “respect freedom of the press and the rights of the citizens to be informed”.
Lawmakers will on Monday debate a bill proposing to hold the presidential vote on 25 August and keep President Sall in power until his successor is installed. The election had originally been scheduled for 25 February.
Former Prime Minister and opposition candidate Aminata Touré, who was arrested during the Sunday protest, confirmed in an online post that she’s been released.
Another opposition candidate Daouda Ndiaye said he was attacked by police. In a post online, he announced that he has been hospitalised but reiterated the call for an election on 25 February. -