May 27. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Senegalese security forces and demonstrators in favor of the opposition leader Ousmane Sonko have staged strong clashes this past Friday night in the vicinity of the city of Kolda, in the south of the country, during the passage of the so-called “freedom caravan ” with which the president of Patriots of Senegal (PASTEF) wants to denounce the political persecution that, he says, he has been subjected to for years by the government of President Macky Sall.
In a statement collected by the newspaper ‘Le Quotidien’, PASTEF denounces that the security forces fired tear gas at dozens of people who had come to greet the arrival of the convoy at the entrance to the city.
“The PASTEF leader’s delegation tried to negotiate with the security forces for the entry of the convoy, to no avail. Several angry young men began to burn tires and tree trunks,” according to the opposition party’s account.
The clashes have been confirmed by witnesses from multiple national media who have followed the march of the convoy and even speak of a young man who died during the protests, identified as Aliou Bodian, who would have succumbed to his injuries in a hospital in the region, according to their own sources. of CasaMedia and the DakarActu portal, without giving further details.
The Senegalese government has not yet ruled on these incidents and instead has only demonstrated in the last few hours to denounce a computer attack against the web pages of the Presidency and other institutions, according to a statement from the government spokesman, Abdou Karim Fofana. , collected by the Senegalese portal EMedia. The computer attack has been claimed on Twitter by a group called Mysterious Team.
The Radio France Internationale (RFI) correspondent in Dakar has indicated that the riots ended late at night and now there is calm in the city, where Sonko will spend the day before resuming his route to the Senegalese capital, skirting the Gambian border.
PASTEF, in its statement, has warned that incidents such as these could be repeated throughout the rest of the route of the caravan, which left on Friday from the city of Ziguinchor — 200 kilometers from Kolda –, by notifying “according to extremely reliable sources”, that “the Macky Sall regime, unable to provide a political response to this popular initiative, has planned riots that could lead to dramatic consequences” to accuse the opposition party of them.
Sonko’s “caravan” has begun the journey to star in Dakar in its “final fight” against the Government of Sall weeks after the opponent announced a boycott of judicial proceedings after denouncing “judicial banditry” and the use of courts to try to remove him from the presidential elections scheduled for 2024. A court recently raised the suspended sentence against him to six months for defaming the Minister of Tourism, Mame Mbaye Niang.
The case against Sonko for alleged rape was opened in March 2021, when the arrest of the opponent led to protests by his followers that resulted in 15 deaths and significant material damage. Demonstrations last week by supporters who gathered at his home to prevent his arrest left another three dead, including an officer killed in an accident by a police vehicle.
The opposition has denounced on several occasions that the president of Senegal has plans to run for a third term. The Senegalese Constitution limits the total number of terms to two and an attempt to extend his stay in power could lead to instability, although the president has defended that it would be legal for him to run for office, a point that he has not yet confirmed.
