Senegal police disperse election protest

Senegalese police blocked a planned opposition march in Dakar on Friday and fired tear gas at student protesters.

They were demonstrating against a new election rule and a Constitutional Court decision barring some opposition figures from running in the February presidential election.

Riot police blocked the streets around Cheikh Anta Diop University, where the protest was due to start, and fired tear gas at students who lobbed stones at police.

“People are fed up with him, people are fed up with Macky Sall (Senegalese president). Today he is unpopular and holds a minority in this country. The only thing left for him is to steal the elections and that won’t happen,” said one of the protesting students who did not want to be identified.

According to another protester, “for seven years we have seen a dictatorship that has spread across the country. What we are seeing is our freedom being confiscated through rigged elections. The last elections, the legislative elections were rigged and everybody knew it. No one in the opposition had a voice and that is what we do not want for the presidential (election).

Last week, the Constitutional Council barred Senegal’s two best known opposition figures, former Dakar mayor Khalifa Sall and Karim Wade, the son of former President Abdoulaye Wade, from running in the presidential election slated for February.