Death toll from Senegal protests rises to 15 as opposition supporters clash with police

DAKAR, Senegal 

The number of people killed in days of clashes between Senegalese police and supporters of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko has now risen to 15, including two security officers, the government said on Saturday.

While Dakar was calmer on Saturday, clashes continued into the evening. In residential neighborhoods, protesters threw rocks at police, barricaded roads and set tires on fire. The army patrolled the streets as police fired tear gas at the demonstrators, inspecting and detaining people deemed to be causing trouble.

Residents peered over the rooftops of buildings, both shielding for cover and watching the clashes.

The clashes first broke out on Thursday, after Sonko was convicted of corrupting youth but acquitted on charges of raping a woman who worked at a massage parlor and making death threats against her. Sonko, who didn’t attend his trial in Dakar, was sentenced to two years in prison. His lawyer said a warrant hadn’t yet been issued for his arrest.

However, the government said that Sonko could ask for a retrial once he was imprisoned. It was unclear when he would be taken into custody.

If violence continues, it could threaten the country’s institutions, say analysts.

"Never in their worst forms of nightmare (would) Senegalese have thought of witnessing the prevailing forms of apocalyptic and irrational violence,” said Alioune Tine, founder of Afrikajom Center, a West African think tank.

The most shared feelin

g about the current situation is fear, stress, exhaustion and helplessness. Thus what the people are now seeking for is peace,” he said.

The West African country has been seen as a bastion of democratic stability in the region.

Sonko hasn’t been heard from or seen since the verdict. In a statement Friday, his PASTEF-Patriots party called on Senegalese to “amplify and intensify the constitutional resistance” until President Sall leaves office.

Government spokesman Abdou Karim Fofana said the damage caused by months of demonstrations had cost the country millions of dollars. He argued the protesters posed a threat to democracy.

These calls (to protest), it’s a bit like the anti-republican nature of all these movements that hide behind social networks and don’t believe in the foundations of democracy, which are elections, freedom of expression, but also the resources that our (legal) system offers,” Fofana said.