The two opposition deputies who physically assaulted a parliamentarian from the ruling camp in the National Assembly on December 1 were placed in police custody on Tuesday for "wilful assault and death threats", indicated to the AFP a police chief.
They had been questioned since Tuesday morning by the Criminal Investigations Division (DIC, judicial police) and wanted since December 3.
Massata Samb slapped parliamentarian Amy Ndiaye and kicked Mamadou Niang in the stomach on December 1 during the Justice Ministry's budget vote, after she made 'disrespectful remarks' against their
religious
leader leading their party, according to Massata Samb.
The MP, pregnant, hospitalized after the altercation
The two deputies are members of the Unity and Rally Party (PUR), a component of the main opposition coalition, whose leader is Serigne Moustapha Sy, a religious leader who is not a deputy but is very influential. in Senegal.
Amy Ndiaye, mayor of the town of Gniby (center), was pregnant and was then admitted to a hospital, according to deputies from the ruling party.
The police were seized by the prosecution following a letter from the President of the National Assembly demanding legal proceedings against the two deputies, had indicated the lawyer of the abused deputy.
The opposition accused Amy Ndiaye of having disrespected Serigne Moustapha Sy during an intervention in the Assembly where she claimed that he did not keep his word and disrespected President Macky Sall, according to comments broadcast by the media.
The scene of violence - widely condemned in Senegal - came during the
UN-backed annual international
'Sixteen Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Against Women and Girls' campaign.
The presidential camp lost the absolute majority it held after the July legislative elections which gave the Assembly a virtual balance of power in a tense political context.
