Senegal: deadly protests against detention of leading opposition figure Sonko

Two people were killed Monday during protests in southern Senegal in response to the indictment and arrest of the leading opposition figure Ousmane Sonko last week and a day after Sonko, in custody, announced he had started a hunger strike.

Senegal’s public prosecutor on Saturday July 29 announced seven new charges for various crimes, including a call for insurrection, against the opposition politician — a vocal critic of President Macky Sall who has faced a string of legal woes he claims are aimed at keeping him out of politics. Also, Sonko’s lawyers have repeatedly claimed that “the case is empty” and it’s a mere political vendetta by Sall’s government. Sonko’s lawyers said authorities had not respected his rights and questioned the independence of the judiciary. “I swear to defend a man, Ousmane Sonko, whose body carries the hopes of an entire people, and therefore, of all humanity,” said one of Sonko’s lawyers, the French national Juan Branco.

Sonko’s party, PASTEF, has criticized the latest move by the government to open up new charges against him, calling the latest move by Senegal’s judiciary as ‘anti-democratic’.

Internet was also restricted on Monday by the government in a move intended to curb spread of information to deter an insurrection. This measure did not prevent sporadic clashes Monday evening in the suburbs of Dakar with demonstrators reportedly burning tires and setting up roadblocks while chanting “Free Sonko.” Two people were reported killed when the protests were dispersed by police with tear gas.

Last month, Sall eased tensions in the normally stable West African nation by announcing he would not seek a controversial third mandate.