DAKAR, Feb 9 (Reuters) – Senegalese security forces used tear gas and stun grenades and fired what appeared to be rubber bullets on Friday to disperse hundreds of people protesting in the streets of Dakar against the postponement of presidential election, noted a Reuters journalist.
Protesters burned tires and threw stones at the police, some waving the Senegalese flag and shouting “Macky Sall is a dictator”.
This is the first major demonstration since President Macky Sall announced a week ago the indefinite postponement of the presidential election, which was to be held on February 25.
The Senegalese Minister of Justice, Aïssata Tall Sall, assured Friday that this abrupt decision, strongly contested by the opposition and criticized by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), was in accordance with the Constitution and the laws of the country.
Macky Sall, who pledged not to seek a third term during the election, justified his postponement by disputes over candidacies and accusations of alleged corruption against two members of the Constitutional Council.
This decision may have opened the worst political “crisis” in the history of Senegal, admitted Aïssata Tall Sall, calling on the Senegalese to “overcome it”. (Reporting by Ngouda Dione and Cooper Inveen, French version Tangi Salaün)
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