Police use teargas as protests resume in Senegal over elections

Thousands of people took to the streets of Senegal’s capital to show their frustration at President Macky Sall’s move to delay presidential elections.

Police stationed along major through-ways used teargas to disperse people as protests erupted across Dakar on Friday.

Protesters threw rocks in response as the police aimed to prevent an opposition gathering from taking place. “Macky Sall, dictator,” they shouted to the blast of teargas cannons.

A student died from injuries sustained during protests in the northern city of Saint-Louis, Agence France-Presse reported, citing a hospital employee in the city. A police spokesperson couldn’t be reached for comment.

While Senegal has never experienced a civil war or coup and has overseen largely peaceful transitions of power since gaining its independence from France in 1960, the country has been wracked by sporadic and increasingly violent protests since 2021.

Opponents have called the postponement of elections a constitutional coup. Authorities have detained presidential candidates, arrested opposition lawmakers and shut down the internet.

People first took to the streets Monday and gathered outside the National Assembly to object to a vote by lawmakers on the decision. They clashed with the police on a main thoroughfare the day after parliament approved the postponement to Dec 15 from Feb 15, which was not supported by the opposition.

The rescheduling means Sall, whose second and final term was set to end April 2, will remain in office until a successor takes power.

The European Union on Friday expressed concerns over the move to postpone the election, saying that it “would de facto extend the mandate of the President” and risk “tainting the long democratic tradition in Senegal and could thus open a period of great uncertainty for the country.”

“We’re tired of Macky Sall,” said Yacine Diatta, a 33-year-old trader who joined the protest Friday. “What Sall did is a coup. There’s no other way to call it.”