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A police officer died and several other demonstrators had been injured Monday throughout clashes between safety forces and supporters of Senegalese opposition chief Ousmane Sonko in his hometown, in response to an inside ministry assertion and media reviews.
The unrest in Ziguinchor, a city in southern Senegal, got here a day earlier than the anticipated begin of Sonko’s rape trial within the nation’s capital, Dakar. Sonko was charged based mostly on a girl’s accusations that he assaulted her when she labored at a therapeutic massage salon.
If convicted, Sonko faces as much as 10 years in jail and can be barred from operating for president.
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In accordance with native authorities, a police armored automobile struck and killed the officer because it was reversing. The federal government provided condolences to the officer’s household, calling his loss of life a “tragic accident.”
Senegalese opposition chief Ousmane Sonko addresses journalists following his launch from police custody in Dakar, Senegal, Monday, March 8, 2021. Not less than one particular person has been killed in a protest over Sonko’s prosecution. (AP Photograph/Sylvain Cherkaoui, File)
Clashes occurred close to Sonko’s dwelling, the place he has been staying whereas vowing to defy any summons to look in Dakar for the rape trial. Sonko challenged President Macky Sall in Senegal’s 2019 presidential election and was elected mayor of Ziguinchor final yr.
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Supporters gathered exterior his dwelling beginning Sunday night, fearing police would transfer to arrest him to deliver him to court docket. Messages have circulated on social media calling for supporters to behave as Sonko’s “shields.” and defend their chief from arrest.
Sonko not too long ago obtained a 6-month suspended jail sentence in a defamation case and declared he would now not reply to court docket summonses.
His attorneys instructed reporters at a information convention in Paris on Monday that Sonko had not but obtained a summons however would seem “if circumstances had been met.”
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Senegalese police deployed further officers in Ziguinchor and elsewhere in Senegal.
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