By Enyichukwu Enemanna
At least one person has been reported dead while several others were injured following a clash between police and supporters of the opposition leader in Senegal, Ousmane Sonko, eyewitness told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Aliou Bodian was killed Friday in the city of Kolda in the country’s south, said friend Boubacar Balde. “It’s a sad atmosphere that has overtaken the family,” he said.
Sonko had called on his supporters to follow him in a “freedom caravan” from his hometown of Ziguinchor, in the south and where he is the mayor, to the capital, Dakar — some 750 kilometers (465 miles) away.
A verdict is expected to be delivered there next week on rape charges against him.
Sonko’s rape trial is going on amidst death threats against a woman working at a beauty centre who had leveled the accusation.
If convicted, he could face ten years imprisonment and would be barred from running in next year’s presidential elections.
Sonko has described his prosecution as political persecution.
Sonko did not attend the trial last week and was judged in absentia.
He said he is protesting against injustice and will no longer respond to court summons.
He and his supporters maintain his legal troubles are part of an effort by President Macky Sall’s government to derail his candidacy in the 2024 elections.
The opposition leader recently received a six-month suspended prison sentence in a defamation case against Minister of Tourism Mame Mbaye Niang, to whom he now owes some $330,000 in compensation.
It’s not clear how Friday’s clashes began, but on Sonko’s Facebook page smoke from tear gas could be seen, as well as a truck blocking the street where the caravan and hundreds of supporters were walking.
