Senegal blocks some social media after clashes left at least 9 dead

Senegal’s government said on Friday it had shut down some social media platforms due to clashes between protesters and security forces a day earlier, which it said left at least nine people dead.

Protesters had taken to the streets across the West African country on Thursday shortly after a court acquitted a leading opposition figure, Ousmane Sonko, on charges of rape and making death threats but convicted him on the lesser charge of “corruption of young people’. Mr Sonko was sentenced to two years in prison in a case his supporters say was politically motivated.

The violence brought tensions in the largely peaceful country to a new high. Since Mr Sonko’s arrest in 2021, clashes have erupted regularly after a massage parlor employee accused him of rape.

Senegal’s Interior Minister Antoine Felix Abdoulaye Diome said the deaths had occurred on Thursday in Dakar, the capital, and in Ziguinchor, a southern city where Mr Sonko is mayor. In 2021, at least 14 people were killed in clashes that followed his arrest.

Mr. Diome said so blocking the social media channels was justified because calls to violence and hatred circulated through them.

On Friday morning, Dakar and other cities remained calm as many Senegalese waited to see what would happen next.

Security forces stationed around Mr Sonko’s home in Dakar prevented him from leaving for days. They also threw tear gas at journalists, lawmakers and local residents without warning.

Mr. Sonko, a 48-year-old former tax inspector, is popular among young people and has branded himself as the main opponent of President Macky Sall. Mr Sonko has accused the president of using lawsuits to sideline him. In return, the government has accused Mr Sonko of inciting an uprising and threatening Senegal’s public order.

Justice Minister Ismaïla Madior Fall told reporters on Thursday that Mr Sonko could be arrested at any time.

For now, the sentence will not allow him to run in next year’s presidential election and he will not be allowed to appeal the ruling because he was not present in court for the trial. But two of his lawyers and Mr. Fall, the Attorney General, said Mr. Sonko could face a new trial if he surrendered or was imprisoned.

Senegal has long prided itself on its culture of peaceful dialogue, political pluralism and the absence of coups since independence from France in 1960. But human rights defenders and political observers have questioned the arrests of journalists and dozens of political opponents in recent years, as well as the criminal charges against key opposition figures, including Mr Sonko.

“There are expectations in Senegalese democratic culture that the judiciary should be independent,” said Catherine Lena Kelly, an expert on Senegalese politics at the African Center for Strategic Studies, a research group that is part of the US Department of Defense. . “But grievances have been raised during Sall’s presidency about what some citizens view as the state selectively accusing opposition leaders of criminal offences.”

Babacar Ndiaye, a political analyst in Senegal, said the social media blackout was a first in the country to his knowledge.

“It’s surprising to say the least,” said Mr. Ndiaye, the research and publishing director at Wathi, a Dakar-based research organization, Friday. “Social media has always been a space of free expression in Senegal, including yesterday when people exchanged real-time information about the clashes and the police response.”

As of Friday morning, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and WhatsApp were down, and many Senegalese had turned to virtual private networks, which circumvent such bans by masking a user’s location. “This is where we are now in Senegal,” Mr Ndiaye said.