Senegal clashes kill one after opposition leader arrest
DAKAR: Senegalese police clashed with supporters of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko on Thursday, leaving one person dead, a police official said – the first death in protests sparked by Sonko’s arrest the previous day.
Sonko, leader of the opposition Pastef party and former presidential candidate, is considered a key potential challenger to President Macky Sall in elections in three years.
He was detained on Wednesday for disturbing public order as demonstrations broke out ahead of his court appearance on a rape charge, triggering the worst unrest seen in years in a country generally known for its stability.
Angry protestors attacked the headquarters of media deemed close to the government Thursday evening, while authorities suspended two private television stations, accusing them of “stirring up hatred and violence”.
The death happened after clashes on Thursday in Bignona town in the southern Casamance region, the police official said.
“We still don’t know the cause, it is under investigation,” said the official who asked not to be identified.
Four police were also injured in the fighting.
Dozens of students holed themselves up in Dakar’s Cheikh Anta Diop University on Thursday afternoon, where they threw concrete blocks at police, who responded with tear gas and stun grenades, an AFP reporter at the scene said.
Sonko was to have been transferred Thursday evening to a Dakar courthouse where his case will be heard by a judge, but his lawyers said the hearing had been postponed to Friday.
“Ousmane Sonko is now the subject of a warrant. He will be taken to the investigating magistrate tomorrow, willingly or by force,” Abdoulaye Tall, one of his attorneys, told AFP.
Hundreds of people followed his motorcade on Wednesday, as he travelled to a court to deny rape charges filed against him last month by an employee at a salon where he received massages.
Supporters sounded horns and sang before clashes erupted, and Sonko was arrested before even reaching the court.
Interior Minister Antoine Felix Abdoulaye Diome said Sonko had been arrested over a ban on gatherings because of the coronavirus and violating a traffic plan put in place.
“Everyone has to comply. Others have done the same. I wonder why there would be an exception,” he told RFM radio.
Sonko is frequently critical of Senegal’s ruling elite and is popular with young people.