two young men killed during demonstrations against President Macky Sall

Major demonstrations have been taking place since February 9 against President Macky Sall, who postponed the date of the presidential election.

Senegal is sinking into crisis. Two young people died during demonstrations against President Macky Sall, accused by the opposition of “institutional coup” after having postponed the date of the presidential election by almost a year, AFP learned on Saturday February 10.

The first victim, a 22-year-old geography student, “died from his injuries during the demonstrations in Saint-Louis” Friday, a student leader at Gaston Berger University where he was studying told AFP. The circumstances of his death are not yet known but an investigation has been opened, said the Saint-Louis public prosecutor.

The Minister of the Interior said in a press release “that the defense and security forces did not intervene in the university campus where the death occurred”. His death deeply moved the country, and hundreds of students paid tribute to him by keeping vigil during the night from Friday to Saturday.

The second victim is a 23-year-old street vendor in Dakar. “There were tear gas grenades fired, and then we went to the Colobane TER station to return”his brother told AFP, who claims that “it was there that a gendarme shot him in the stomach with a live bullet”. “He underwent two operations last night and unfortunately he succumbed to his injuries this morning”, his brother-in-law told AFP. The information has not been confirmed by the authorities.

New demonstrations planned for Tuesday

On Friday, large-scale demonstrations against the postponement of the elections and President Macky Sall took place across the country, particularly in Dakar, but they were immediately dispersed by security forces. In the capital, the police made abundant use of tear gas to keep away people who were trying to gather around the Place de la Nation. Protesters responded by throwing stones and erecting barricades with makeshift objects.

The repression sparked a wave of indignation in the opposition and among certain allies of power. “We call the regional and international community to witness, in the face of the excesses of this dying power” of President Macky Sall, reacted Khalifa Sall, one of the main presidential candidates. A new demonstration launched by a civil society collective, Aar Sunu Election (“Let’s protect our election”), is planned for Tuesday.