Fresh clashes broke out in Senegal on Saturday night between opposition supporters and police in districts of Dakar, in the third night of protests that have taken place in the country since the sentencing of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko to two years in prison, which has claimed the lives of at least 15 people.

Among the 15 dead are two members of the security forces, as announced by the presidency of Senegal. These are the bloodiest conflicts that have occurred in the West African country in decades.

The country’s interior minister, Antoine Diem, said there had been “around 500 arrests” since the protests began on Thursday.

He claimed that Senegal is the target of attacks by “dark forces”. “There is foreign influence. The country is under attack,” said Diom. “Facilities vital to the functioning of the country” have been targeted in order to cause “chaos,” he continued, citing in particular the attack on a water plant.

“We will not bow to these groups nor to these foreigners who have come to loot our country,” Tourism Minister Mam Ebaye Niang had pointed out earlier.

Security forces remain deployed throughout the capital, while the army has taken up positions at strategic points.

Since Thursday, many public and private buildings have been looted, mainly banks and shops in the suburbs of Dakar. Some streets bear witness to the violent clashes that took place, with burnt cars and tires and stones strewn about.

The US yesterday expressed its “concern and sadness” over the violent incidents and called for calm to be restored.

Besides, the international community called for restraint and an end to violence in Senegal, a rare island of stability in West Africa.

Many social media sites including Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter were down last night, a measure taken by the government to prevent “the spread of messages of hate and subversion,” it said.

“Resistance”

Senegalese are anxiously waiting to see if Sonko, who has announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election, will be arrested. On Thursday he was found not guilty of rape but sentenced in absentia to two years in prison for corrupting a minor.

This decision means that he can no longer be a candidate. Sonko has denounced from the outset that the case is a plot by Senegalese President Macky Sall to destroy him politically.

He has stated that he is “blocked” in his home in Dakar by security forces, who prevent anyone from approaching.

Sonko could be arrested “at any time”, said Justice Minister Ismaila Madior Fal.

His party, Pastef, has called for “expanding and intensifying the resistance (…) until the departure of Macky Sall,” whom it accuses of “dictatorial tendencies,” it said in a statement on Friday.

For the government, the demonstrations that have broken out are not “a popular demonstration with political demands”, but “acts of vandalism and looting”.