Clashes, scenes of ransacking and looting occurred on Friday evening February 10 in a city in Senegal where the authorities had banned a rally around opponent Ousmane Sonko, presidential candidate for 2024.
News sites reported clashes between supporters of Mr. Sonko and security forces in the late afternoon in the town of Touba-Mbacké. They later reported acts of ransacking or looting against a Total station, an Orange store and a Senchan supermarket, a local food distribution chain. No local authority could be reached by AFP.
These incidents occur in a climate of growing tension in view of the presidential election of 2024. The authorities had banned a meeting planned by the Pastef, the party of Mr. Sonko, citing a defect in the form in the request for authorization. Mr. Sonko went to Touba-Mbacké anyway, where he was welcomed by many supporters.
Defamation
Senegal was the scene, in early 2021, of several days of riots which claimed the lives of at least a dozen people. The involvement of Mr. Sonko in an alleged rape case had helped spark the violence. French brands were particularly targeted. New tensions are feared on February 16, the day when Mr. Sonko is supposed to appear before a court in Dakar to answer for defamation against a minister. Mr. Sonko’s eligibility may depend on the outcome of the trial. The opponent denounces an instrumentalization of justice for political ends.
At 48, he is accustomed to expressions of defiance against power. He holds a discourse that is at the same time sovereignist, pan-Africanist and social, slaying the elites and corruption. He is pounding the economic and political influence exercised, according to him, by the former French colonial power and the multinationals. A defender of religious and traditional values, he enjoys great popularity among young people, with more than half of the population being under the age of 20.
On Friday evening, the audiovisual regulatory authority decided to suspend for seven days the private television channel Walf TV, which it said provided “irresponsible coverage of the protests in Mbacké by repeatedly broadcasting images of violence. exposing teenagers, accompanied by dangerous language, including from reporters”.
