Nine people were killed in clashes after Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko was sentenced to two years in prison.
Sonko’s fans threw rocks at riot police and set fire to buses after a court sentenced him in absentia for “corrupting youth” on Thursday.
He was acquitted on allegations of raping a massage parlor employee and threatening her with death.
The charges, according to his supporters, are a plot to prevent him from participating in the presidential elections set for February 2024.
The government and the justice system deny this.
Sonko’s PASTEF party claimed the verdict was part of a political plan and urged citizens to “stop all activity and take to the streets” in a statement.
Since 2021, the case has sparked violent protests in the West African country, amid growing dissatisfaction with President Macky Sall.
Critics claim that Sall, who was elected in 2012, has failed to create jobs and has muzzled opposition criticism amid rumors that he may seek to circumvent presidential term restrictions and run again next year.
Sonko placed third in Senegal’s 2019 presidential election and is popular with the country’s youth. He is considered President Macky Sall’s main competition and has urged Sall to state publicly that he will not seek a third term in office.
After Thursday’s verdict, clashes broke out between police and protesters, buses were set alight in the capital, Dakar, and disturbances were reported elsewhere, including the city of Ziguinchor, where Sonko has been mayor since 2022.
Thick black smoke billowed from a central university campus in Dakar, where protesters set several buses alight in the afternoon and threw rocks at riot police who responded by firing tear gas.
Al Jazeera’s Nicolas Haque, reporting from Dakar, filmed the arrest of a man as he was speaking to Al Jazeera.
Seyni Senghor, a resident in Dakar, said he wanted “nothing to do with politics”.
“I want nothing to do with politicians, I’m just a labourer working at a private company since 2017,” he said. “I have never witnessed such violence, I’m shocked to see the police behave like this.”
Asked by Haque if he was scared, he said: “Yes I’m scared, I’m so scared.” As he was speaking, he was apprehended by masked police and taken to a police van.
Several social media and messaging platforms were restricted in Senegal late on Thursday.
The move “likely to significantly impact the public’s ability to communicate,” the NetBlocks internet observatory said.
Similar shutdowns occurred during widespread protests in 2021, it said.
Sonko’s original arrest on rape accusations in 2021 prompted several days of violence that resulted in the deaths of at least 12 persons.
“Ousmane Sonko’s candidacy is in jeopardy,” Djiby Diagne, one of his lawyers, told Reuters news agency.
Citing Senegal’s electoral law, a second lawyer, Bamba Cisse, said that “with this sentence Sonko cannot be a candidate”.
“The conviction for corruption of youth hinders his eligibility because he was sentenced in absentia, so we can’t appeal,” he added.
