Two people were killed in clashes between youths and police in Dakar, Senegal’s capital, yesterday, after policemen barred entrance to opposition leader Ousmane Sonko’s residence.
According to Sonko’s PASTEF party spokesman, Ousseynou Ly, three opposition figures, Dethie Fall, Ahmet Aidara, and Mame Diarra Fame, were also arrested.
The police intervention began after Sonko called for protests during a period of high political tension in the country.
Roads leading to his home in a posh Dakar neighbourhood were blocked off by barricades and police in riot gear. Those who attempted to approach the building were warned to back off.
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At midday, police prevented Sonko from going to Friday prayers.
He said he did not personally blame the police officers who were ordered to block him into his home but accused authorities of giving in to ‘panic’.
Ly added that Dakar’s mayor Barthelemy Dias was also prevented from leaving his home.
Sonko, who came third in the 2019 presidential election, had called for a protest on Friday against a decision to bar a list of candidates for Senegal’s legislative elections on July 31.
The move also bans him and other opposition figures from contesting the ballot.
Police fired teargas at youths and used stun grenades to disperse stone-throwing groups of protesters in a number of Dakar neighbourhoods.
They prevented demonstrators from reaching the city centre with the support of armoured vehicles.
The violence in Dakar left one person dead when a projectile set fire to a depot, a Red Cross official said on condition of anonymity.
The opposition accused the security forces of firing live rounds in the southern region of Casamance, where media reports and the opposition reported a second death in the town of Bignona.
The authorities have not provided confirmation of the deaths or of the arrest of the three opposition figures.
Some figures have appealed for dialogue. They pointed out that around a dozen people died when violence erupted in March last year after Sonko was accused of sexual assault.