A demonstrator throws a rock at police throughout a protest at a neighborhood in Dakar, Senegal, on Saturday. The clashes first broke out after opposition chief Ousmane Sonko was convicted of corrupting youth and sentenced to 2 years in jail.

Leo Correa/AP

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Leo Correa/AP

A demonstrator throws a rock at police throughout a protest at a neighborhood in Dakar, Senegal, on Saturday. The clashes first broke out after opposition chief Ousmane Sonko was convicted of corrupting youth and sentenced to 2 years in jail.

Leo Correa/AP

DAKAR, Senegal — The variety of individuals killed in days of clashes between Senegalese police and supporters of opposition chief Ousmane Sonko has now risen to fifteen, together with two safety officers, the federal government stated on Saturday.

While Dakar was calmer on Saturday, clashes continued into the night. In residential neighborhoods, protesters threw rocks at police, barricaded roads and set tires on hearth. The military patrolled the streets as police fired tear fuel on the demonstrators, inspecting and detaining individuals deemed to be inflicting hassle.

Residents peered over the rooftops of buildings, each shielding for canopy and watching the clashes.

The clashes first broke out on Thursday, after Sonko was convicted of corrupting youth however acquitted on prices of raping a lady who labored at a therapeutic massage parlor and making dying threats in opposition to her. Sonko, who did not attend his trial in Dakar, was sentenced to 2 years in jail. His lawyer stated a warrant hadn’t but been issued for his arrest.

Sonko got here third in Senegal’s 2019 presidential election and is well-liked with the nation’s youth. His supporters preserve his authorized troubles are a part of a authorities effort to derail his candidacy within the 2024 presidential election.

Sonko is taken into account President Macky Sall’s major competitors and has urged Sall to state publicly that he will not search a 3rd time period in workplace.

The worldwide neighborhood has known as on Senegal’s authorities to resolve the tensions. France’s ministry for Europe and international affairs stated it was “extremely concerned by the violence” and known as for a decision to this disaster, consistent with Senegal’s lengthy democratic custom.

Rights teams have condemned the federal government crackdown, which has included arbitrary arrests and restrictions on social media. Some social media websites utilized by demonstrators to incite violence, akin to Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter have been suspended, for practically two days.

The U.S. State Department issued an announcement deploring the violence.

“Senegal’s strong record of democratic governance, rule of law, and peaceful coexistence is something for which the Senegalese people can be rightfully proud. We urge all parties to voice their views in a peaceful manner,” departmental spokesperson Matthew Miller stated.

Senegalese are blaming the federal government for the violence and the lack of lives.

One lady, Seynabou Diop, informed The Associated Press on Saturday that her 21-year-old son, Khadim, was killed within the protests, shot by a bullet to the chest.

“I feel deep pain. What’s happening is hard. Our children are dying. I never thought I’d have to go through this,” she stated.

This was the primary time her son, a disciplined and sort mechanic, had joined within the protests, dashing out of the home as quickly as he heard Sonko was convicted, she stated.

“I think Macky Sall is responsible. If he’d talked to the Senegalese people, especially young people, maybe we wouldn’t have all these problems,” stated Diop. The Associated Press can not confirm the reason for dying. The household stated an post-mortem was underway.

Corrupting younger individuals, which incorporates utilizing one’s place of energy to have intercourse with individuals beneath the age of 21, is a legal offense in Senegal, punishable by as much as 5 years in jail and a effective of as much as $6,000.

Under Senegalese legislation, Sonko’s conviction would bar him from operating in subsequent yr’s election, stated Bamba Cisse, one other protection lawyer. However, the federal government stated that Sonko might ask for a retrial as soon as he was imprisoned. It was unclear when he can be taken into custody.

If violence continues, it might threaten the nation’s establishments, say analysts.

“Never in their worst forms of nightmare (would) Senegalese have thought of witnessing the prevailing forms of apocalyptic and irrational violence,” stated Alioune Tine, founding father of Afrikajom Center, a West African assume tank.

“The most shared feeling about the current situation is fear, stress, exhaustion and helplessness. Thus what the people are now seeking for is peace,” he stated.

The West African nation has been seen as a bastion of democratic stability within the area.

Sonko hasn’t been heard from or seen because the verdict. In an announcement Friday, his PASTEF-Patriots occasion known as on Senegalese to “amplify and intensify the constitutional resistance” till President Sall leaves workplace.

Government spokesman Abdou Karim Fofana stated the injury brought on by months of demonstrations had value the nation tens of millions of {dollars}. He argued the protesters posed a risk to democracy.

“These calls (to protest), it’s a bit like the anti-republican nature of all these movements that hide behind social networks and don’t believe in the foundations of democracy, which are elections, freedom of expression, but also the resources that our (legal) system offers,” Fofana stated.