EXPLAINER
Supporters of the opposition figure denounce the charges and two-year sentence as a ploy to prevent him from running in next year’s presidential election.
Nine people have been killed in clashes that broke out after Senegalese opposition figure Ousmane Sonko was killed. sentenced to two years in prison.
Sonko supporters threw stones at riot police and set buses on fire Thursday after a trial sentenced him in absentia for “corrupting the youth”.
He was acquitted of charges of raping a woman who worked in a massage parlor and threatening to kill her.
Supporters denounce the charges as a ploy to prevent him from running in the presidential election scheduled for February 2024.
The government and justice deny it.
Why did the protests break out?
Sonko’s PASTEF party said the verdict was part of a political plot and called on citizens in a statement to “stop all activity and take to the streets.”
The case has triggered violent protests in the West African country since 2021 amid growing frustration with President Macky Sall.
Critics say Sall, who was elected in 2012, has failed to create jobs and has stifled criticism from the opposition amid rumors that he might try to circumvent presidential term limits and run again next year.
Sonko came third in Senegal’s 2019 presidential election and is popular with the country’s youth. He is seen as President Macky Sall’s main competitor and has urged Sall to state publicly that he will not seek a third term in office.
What happened after the verdict?
Following Thursday’s verdict, clashes broke out between police and protesters, buses were set on fire in the capital Dakar, and riots were reported elsewhere, including the city of Ziguinchor, where Sonko has been mayor since 2022.
Thick black smoke billowed from a central university campus in Dakar, where protesters set several buses on fire in the afternoon and hurled rocks at riot police, who responded by firing tear gas.
Al Jazeera’s Nicolas Haque, reporting from Dakar, filmed the arrest of a man while speaking to Al Jazeera.
Seyni Senghor, a Dakar resident, said she wanted “nothing to do with politics.”
“I don’t want to have anything to do with politicians, I’m just a worker who has been working in a private company since 2017,” he said. “I have never witnessed such violence, I am surprised to see the police behave like this.”
When Haque asked him if he was afraid, he said: “Yes, I am afraid, I am very afraid.” As he was speaking, he was stopped by hooded police officers and taken to a police van.
social networks suspended
Several social networks and messaging platforms were restricted in Senegal on Thursday night.
The move is “likely to significantly impact the public’s ability to communicate,” Internet watchdog NetBlocks said.
Similar closures occurred during widespread protests in 2021, he said.
⚠️ Confirmed: Metrics show restriction of social media and messaging platforms including Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and YouTube on #Senegal; the incident comes amid protests over the sentencing of opposition figure Ousmane Sonko
📰 Report: https://t.co/2ckQPxJ5j3 pic.twitter.com/MuohanLeCP
– Network Blocks (@netblocks) June 1, 2023
Can Sonko still run for president in 2024?
by sonko initial arrest on rape charges in 2021 it sparked several days of clashes in which at least 12 people were killed.
“Ousmane Sonko’s candidacy is in jeopardy,” Djiby Diagne, one of his lawyers, told Reuters news agency.
Citing Senegal’s electoral law, a second lawyer, Bamba Cissé, said that “with this sentence, Sonko cannot be a candidate.”
“The conviction for corruption of young people hinders his eligibility because he was sentenced in absentia, so we cannot appeal,” he added.
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