DAKAR, Senegal: Senegal’s political crisis deepened as a second person died on Saturday in increasingly violent protests against President Macky Sall’s decision to postpone upcoming presidential elections.
The latest violence drew fresh condemnation from opposition leaders, some of whom were presidential candidates. A new round of protests is planned for Tuesday.
Trader Modou Gueye, 23, died on Saturday after being shot during clashes in the capital Dakar the previous day, according to the relatives of the victim.
His brother-in-law Mbagnick Ndiaye said he succumbed to his injuries on Saturday morning.
Already on Friday, a 22-year-old second-year geography student died in the city of Saint-Louis in the north of the country under still unclear circumstances.
In Saint-Louis, Alpha Yoro Tounkara died on the Gaston Berger University campus, where he was studying geography. A hundred of his classmates organised an all-night vigil for him.
Videos posted on social media suggest that other people were also injured.
The city attorney said it has opened an investigation into the death. The Ministry of the Interior issued a statement denying that security forces were active on the university campus.
Presidential candidate Khalifa Sall (no relation to President Macky Sall) said, “The international and regional community must bear witness to the excesses of this dying regime.”