DAKAR, Senegal (AP) – Armed vehicle riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at crowds in Senegal’s capital on Monday after authorities released opposition leader Ousmane Sonko from custody after days of violent protests in one of West Africa’s most stable democracies.
After his release, the 46-year-old politician attributed his arrest to President Macky Sall, accusing the current leader of trying to marginalize his future political prospects before the country’s 2024 elections. Although Sonko publicly accused the president of plunging Senegal into an unprecedented crisis, the opposition leader said his aim was not to bring Sall out of power.
“We don’t want to take responsibility for undermining our democracy,” he tweeted on Monday night. “But let’s be clear, the revolution is on its way towards 2024.”
At least eight people have died since the unrest began last week, according to Amnesty International, marking the worst unrest that has hit Senegal in nearly a decade.
Sonko is widely seen as the president’s biggest potential political challenger in the next election, and the protests that started on Wednesday have been accelerated by broader, long-standing complaints from the Sall administration.
The two men addressed the nation in consecutive remarks on Monday night: first Sonko, then the president.
Sall told Senegalese families that he knew they were suffering in the midst of the economic crisis of COVID-19 and that the resulting poverty was only fueling discontent with his government. He agreed to reduce the night curfew that many traders blame for deepening their difficulties.
“I understand your concerns and the anger you feel about the difficult life you have to live, mainly due to the unemployment accentuated by COVID-19,” said Sall. “But when you plunder a business, you don’t create jobs, you destroy them.”
Some supporters of Sonko, however, indicated that they would still pursue their civil disobedience, even after their leader received parole by a judge on Monday. Crowds of loud supporters stormed the court in the city center waving Senegalese flags and then proceeded to his residence.
Protesters tried to undermine Sall’s commercial ties with former colonizer France, by attacking more than a dozen supermarkets opened by French retailer Auchan. Total gas stations were also targeted by demonstrators in Dakar.
The sight of burnt cars and boarded-up shops is a rarity in Senegal, which has never suffered the military coups and dictatorships that have destabilized so many of its neighbors in West Africa over the past half century.
The demonstrations began on Wednesday, before Sonko’s first court appearance for questioning on rape charges. He was arrested on his way to court and arrested for disturbing public order after hundreds of his supporters clashed with police who were blocking unauthorized protests. He has now been accused of rape and of making death threats.
Sonko, a populist who protested against corruption and poverty, finished third in the 2019 presidential election with just over 15% of the votes cast, garnering strong support from younger voters. His message of greater economic independence for Senegal drew an even wider audience amid the financial difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic amid curfews and other movement restrictions.
Sonko also called on Monday for the president to publicly resign a third term. After easily winning reelection in 2019 with more than 58% of the vote, his opponents fear he will seek to extend his term with a third term, as presidents in neighboring Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire did last year. Sall, however, has not yet publicly commented on his intentions.
Although Sall received credit for infrastructure and development projects, his critics say that the progress came along with the removal of political rivals. Two other rising political stars have faced charges that their supporters said were politically motivated.
Karim Wade, son of President Sall, who was defeated in 2012, was once seen as the heir apparent before being accused of corruption the following year. He ended up spending three years in prison before going into exile in Qatar. Former Dakar mayor Khalifa Sall, seen as one of the leading candidates at any given time for the 2019 elections, was arrested in 2017 on corruption charges and later pardoned after the vote.
The leaders of Senegal’s influential Muslim brotherhoods urged protesters to show restraint in the coming days.
“Every Senegalese has the right to express himself about the situation in the country, but with respect to institutions and without the destruction of public or private property,” said Serigne Mansour Sy. “We ask for peace and serenity.”