At least four die in Senegal protests

Four people have died in clashes with the police during a protest calling for the release of opposition candidate Ousmane Sonko, said Senegal’s Interior Minister Antoine Félix Abdoulaye Diome.

Sonko was arrested on Wednesday for rape allegations which he has since denied, saying the accusations are politically motivated.

Protests in Dakar, Senegal have continued since then with his supporters calling for his immediate release, chanting “Free Sonko”

On Friday, demonstrators lobbed rocks and other objects at security forces, put up street barricades and burned tyres, while police fired tear gas in order to dislodge them.

Interior Minister Antoine Felix Abdoulaye Diome swore to use “all the means necessary for a return to order”, in what he calls an “organised insurrection.”

Sonko is now also accused of disrupting public order, together with the rape charge.

Edited by Olajumoke Adeleke