By Brian Okoth
At least nine people have been confirmed dead and several public service vehicles torched in Senegal’s capital Dakar following protests that erupted on Thursday after opposition politician, Ousmane Sonko, was sentenced to two years in jail.
Interior minister Antoine Diome confirmed the incidents during a televised address on Thursday.
He also said that the government had imposed restriction on WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to avert escalation of the chaos.
National public transport operator, Dakar Dem Dikk, said more than 100 buses had been set on fire by the demonstrators.
Sonko, who has been leading protests against President Macky Sall’s administration, was on Thursday sentenced to two years in jail for corrupting the Senegalese youth.
He was not present in court during the sentencing.
Sonko and his supporters allege that the decision to jail him has been strategically made to block him from running for president in the February 25, 2024 elections.
In the 2019 presidential election, he ran against Macky Sall and three other contestants, taking the third position behind Sall and former Prime Minister Idrissa Seck.
Sall garnered 2.56 million votes (58.3 per cent), against Seck’s nearly 900,000 (20.5 per cent) and Sonko’s 688,000 (15.7 per cent) to emerge the winner.
According to the constitution, 61-year-old Sall will be ineligible to seek re-election in 2024 as he would have exhausted his maximum two terms in office as President.
Sonko is a former tax specialist and the current Mayor of Ziguinchor, a region 460 kilometres southeast of the Dakar.
The 48-year-old is largely popular among the Senegalese youth.
