Huge protests in Dakar against election postponement, 15 confirmed dead.

Protesters in Dakar became radical today which forced the government to increase on deployment and this instead made the protesters radical hence forcing the police to act brutality leading to the death of 15 people.

Demonstrations broke out in Dakar on May 31 after a criminal court sentenced prominent opposition leader Ousmane Sonko – head of the political party Patriotes africains du Sénégal pour le travail, l’éthique et la fraternité (Patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics, and Fraternity, PASTEF) – to two years in jail for corrupting youth, undermining his chances to run in next year’s presidential election. On June 4, Minister of the Interior Antoine Diome said that the violence led to 16 deaths and 500 arrests across Senegal. In a June 4 statement, PASTEF said that security forces and “militias” killed 19 people and that Senegalese people should “defend themselves by all means and to fight back.”

The number of people killed in days of clashes between Senegalese police and supporters of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko has now risen to 15, including two security officers, the government said Saturday.

Clashes continued in pockets of the city Friday evening with demonstrators throwing rocks, burning cars and damaging supermarkets as police fired tear gas and the government deployed the military in tanks.

The recent deaths and injuries of protesters set a worrying tone for the 2024 presidential elections and should be thoroughly investigated, with those responsible held accountable,” said Carine Kaneza Nantulya, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should end the repression against protesters and critics, and guarantee freedom of assembly.”

Human Rights Watch interviewed by telephone 19 people, including three protesters, three civil society activists, four members of the opposition, five journalists, and two lawyers. Human Rights Watch also reviewed reports by national and international media outlets, eight photographs and eight videos showing the dead and injured, and images of the protests.

Witnesses said demonstrators in Dakar built barricades, blocked main roads, burned tires, destroyed and looted public and private property, and threw stones at the police, who responded with teargas. “The police fired so many teargas grenades that I couldn’t breathe,” said a journalist who covered the events in Dakar’s Parcelles Assainies neighborhood on June 1. “I saw dozens of protesters looting a supermarket.” Elsewhere in the country, including Ziguinchor and Mbour, clashes also broke out between protesters and security forces. On June 2, the army was deployed to strengthen security in Dakar, but clashes continued on June 3.

Human Rights Watch was not able to confirm the use of live ammunitions during the protests but spoke to a witness who saw the body of 21-year-old Khadim Ba who, he said, had been allegedly shot in the chest by a gunman dressed in civilian clothes in Dakar’s Pikine neighborhood in the afternoon of June 1. “We took the body to the Dominique health center in Pikine for an autopsy because we saw a clear bullet wound in the chest,” the witness said. “Medical staff refused to do it and told us they first needed a police report … We went to the police.… they made a report, so we can now get an autopsy.” Senegalese media also reported on the death of Khadim Ba.

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