Senegal: a protest movement calls for "massively taking to the streets" for three days

The Movement for the Defense of Democracy, which brings together opponents of President Macky Sall, called on Sunday the Senegalese "

to take to the streets en masse

", "

for three days from Monday March 8

".

Read also: Senegal: four dead in the worst riots in years

This appeal launched at a press conference in Dakar comes after several days of violence between the police and youth groups demanding the release of the opponent Ousmane Sonko.

The protest collective, which brings together political parties, including Ousmane Sonko's party, Pastef-Les Patriotes, associations and members of civil society, calls for "

the immediate release of all political prisoners illegally and arbitrarily detained

" and the “

Respect for the right to demonstrate

”.

Supporters of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, arrested on charges of sexual assault, clash with security forces in Dakar, Senegal, March 5, 2021. ZOHRA BENSEMRA / REUTERS

At least four people were killed during scenes of urban guerrilla warfare between law enforcement and youth groups demanding the release of opponent Ousmane Sonko, whose arrest unleashed accumulated exasperation at the harshness of conditions of life.

Ousmane Sonko was officially arrested for disturbing public order, as he went in procession to the court where he was summoned to respond to charges of rape brought against him by an employee of a beauty salon in which he was going to get a massage, he said, to relieve his back pain.

A personality with an anti-system profile, the deputy shouts at the plot hatched by President Sall to remove him from the next presidential election.

Read also: In Senegal, the jockeys of the savannah

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Saturday condemned the violence that has occurred in recent days in Senegal, calling "

all parties to restraint and calm

".

On Friday evening, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was "

very concerned

" and called "

to avoid an escalation

".

Tensions, in a country usually considered an island of stability in West Africa, intensified with no apparent prospect of appeasement, the justice system having kept Mr. Sonko in police custody.

Many premises under the French banner (Auchan, Total, Eiffage, etc.) were attacked, looted or set on fire.

ZOHRA BENSEMRA / REUTERS

Several districts of Dakar and towns in the interior have experienced clashes of an unknown extent for several years, although the police response seems to be limited mainly to anti-riot means.

The arrest, Wednesday, of Ousmane Sonko, third in the 2019 presidential election and expected to be one of the main competitors of that of 2024, angered his supporters, but also, say many Senegalese, brought to its height the frustrations caused by living conditions since the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the crowd, many expressed their resentment against President Macky Sall, in power since 2012, and distrust of France, considered one of the latter's main supporters.

Many premises under the French banner (Auchan, Total, Eiffage, etc.) were attacked, looted or set on fire.