At the least 15 individuals killed in Senegal as opposition chief’s supporters conflict with police

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) – The variety of individuals killed in days of clashes between Senegalese police and supporters of opposition chief Ousmane Sonko has now risen to fifteen, together with two safety officers, the federal government mentioned on Saturday.

Clashes continued in pockets of town Friday night with demonstrators throwing rocks, burning vehicles and damaging supermarkets as police fired tear fuel and the federal government deployed the army in tanks.

Sonko was convicted Thursday of corrupting youth however acquitted on costs of raping a lady who labored at a therapeutic massage parlor and making demise threats in opposition to her. Sonko, who didn’t attend his trial in Dakar, was sentenced to 2 years in jail. His lawyer mentioned a warrant hadn’t been issued but for his arrest.

Sonko got here in third in Senegal’s 2019 presidential election and is common with the nation’s youth. His supporters keep his authorized troubles are a part of a authorities effort to derail his candidacy within the 2024 presidential election.

Sonko is taken into account President Macky Sall’s major competitors and has urged Sall to state publicly that he gained’t search a 3rd time period in workplace.

The worldwide group has referred to as on Senegal’s authorities to resolve the tensions. France’s ministry for Europe and international affairs mentioned it was “extremely concerned by the violence” and referred to as for a decision to this disaster, in step with Senegal’s lengthy democratic custom.

Rights teams have condemned the federal government crackdown, which has included arbitrary arrests and restrictions on social media. Some social media websites utilized by demonstrators to incite violence, resembling Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter have been suspended, for almost two days.

Senegalese are blaming the federal government for the violence and the lack of lives.

One lady, Seynabou Diop, advised The Associated Press on Saturday that her 21-year-old son, Khadim, was killed within the protests, shot by a bullet to the chest.

“I feel deep pain. What’s happening is hard. Our children are dying. I never thought I’d have to go through this,” she mentioned.

This was the primary time her son, a disciplined and sort mechanic, had joined within the protests, dashing out of the home as quickly as he heard Sonko was convicted, she mentioned.

“I think Macky Sall is responsible. If he’d talked to the Senegalese people, especially young people, maybe we wouldn’t have all these problems,” mentioned Diop. The Associated Press can’t confirm the reason for demise. The household mentioned an post-mortem was underway.

Corrupting younger individuals, which incorporates utilizing one’s place of energy to have intercourse with individuals underneath the age of 21, is a legal offense in Senegal, punishable by as much as 5 years in jail and a nice of as much as $6,000.

Under Senegalese legislation, Sonko’s conviction would bar him from working in subsequent 12 months’s election, mentioned Bamba Cisse, one other protection lawyer. However, the federal government mentioned that Sonko might ask for a retrial as soon as he was imprisoned. It was unclear when he can be taken into custody.

If violence continues, it might threaten the nation’s establishments, say analysts.

“Never in their worst forms of nightmare (would) Senegalese have thought of witnessing the prevailing forms of apocalyptic and irrational violence,” mentioned Alioune Tine, founding father of Afrikajom Center, a West African assume tank.

“The most shared feeling about the current situation is fear, stress, exhaustion and helplessness. Thus what the people are now seeking for is peace,” he mentioned.

The West African nation has been seen as a bastion of democratic stability within the area.

Sonko hasn’t been heard from or seen because the verdict. In a press release Friday, his PASTEF-Patriots get together referred to as on Senegalese to “amplify and intensify the constitutional resistance” till President Sall leaves workplace.

Government spokesman Abdou Karim Fofana mentioned the injury attributable to months of demonstrations had value the nation hundreds of thousands of {dollars}. He argued the protesters themselves posed a menace to democracy.