Senegal: One killed in new clashes between police and protesters

By Bette Felix, Sophia Christensen and Ngouda Dion

DAKAR (Reuters) – One person was killed in Senegal on Friday in fresh clashes between police and protesters protesting the conviction of rival Ousmane Sonko, bringing the death toll in the violence to ten. .

Nine people were killed in clashes between riot police and supporters of Ousmane Sanko on Thursday following the announcement of a two-year prison sentence for “corruption of youth”.

The opposition says the decision, which could bar Usman Sonko from standing in the 2024 presidential election, was politically motivated.

In Dakar, crowds of masked protesters set fire to tires and various objects and clashed with police.

Supermarkets, shops, banks, police stations and the public transport network have been attacked.

Similar scenes were seen on Friday in other regions of Senegal.

A spokesman for Senegal’s interior ministry said one person was killed in the southwestern city of Cap Skiring, where protesters targeted a gendarmerie.

Maham Ka told state radio and television that the situation was now under control and that law enforcement agencies had only encountered a few ‘intrusions’.

The violence on Thursday and Friday in Senegal, considered one of the strongest democracies in West Africa, was sparked by the trial of Ousmane Sanko, sparking fears that President Macky Sall, in power since 2012, was beyond the constitutionally mandated two Trying to extend his rule- term limits.

The United Nations, the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have condemned the violence.

France said it was “extremely concerned” by the violence in a statement, and called for restraint and a resolution to the crisis “respecting Senegal’s long democratic tradition”.

(Reporting by Bate Felix, Cooper Invein, Sophia Christensen and Ngouda Dion, writing by Anat Miridzhanian and Sophia Christensen; French edition by Camille Renaud)