At least 16 people have died and hundreds arrested since violent protests broke out on Thursday in Senegal, following the sentencing of popular opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, according to the country’s public broadcaster RTS.
Many protesters also sustained injuries amid clashes for a third day with security forces, following Sonko’s sentencing. Sonko, who enjoys widespread support among Senegalese youth, was cleared of a rape charge but found guilty on Thursday of corrupting young people, which according to the country’s penal code is “immoral behaviour” towards a person younger than 21.
“The people apprehended during these events are mainly armed and dangerous individuals,” Diop said, adding that some of those arrested had knives, firearms and Molotov cocktails in their possession. Interior Minister Antoine Felix Abdoulaye Diome said in a press conference on Thursday that social media and messaging apps had been restricted to “limit fake news.
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