Opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, potential challenger of President Macky Sall in the next election, has been arrested on charges of disturbing public order and violating coronavirus lockdown, prompting widespread protests throughout the country. The arrest is widely viewed as a slanderous attempt to silence Sonko.
Senegal is known for being a stable country, however, Sonko’s arrested sparked the worst violence in the nation’s capital, Dakar, that it has seen in a long time. Held up inside of Dakar’s Cheikh Anta Diop University, students threw bricks at officers, who responded with tear gas and stun grenades. At least one person has died in the clashes. The movement is called “Y En A Marre”. Enough is Enough.
The government has restricted the internet and suspended television stations. The stations were accused of focusing too much on the protests, while the internet was being used to plan another mass protest.
Sonko is a devout Muslim, and a staunch critic of the ruling elite of Senegal. Sonko previously ran against Sall and lost in what is widely viewed as a fraudulent conspiracy against Sonko. Senegalese presidents generally have only 2 terms, but Sall started a constitutional review in 2016, and many are suspicious he will try to run again.
As one Senegalese YouTuber put it in 2019
“This is Africa
We elect a president
The term is 5 years
But he’ll rule for 100 years”
Sources:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/05/africa/s ... index.html https://www.france24.com/en/africa/2021 ... ader-sonko
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-africa-47639452
