Senegal shuts social media after 9 protesters clash

The government of Senegal said on Friday that it had shut down some social media platforms as a result of clashes between protesters and security forces a day earlier, which it said had left at least nine people dead.

Demonstrators were on Thursday taking to the streets in West Africa, just days after a court acquitted a leading opposition figure, Ousmane Sonko, on charges of rape and making death threats, but convicted him on the lesser charge of corrupting youth. Sonko was sentenced to two years in prison in a case that his supporters said was politically motivated.

The violence triggered a new surge in tensions in the largely peaceful nation. In 2021, a manager at a salon accused Sonko of rape, and he was arrested, periodic clashes have erupted.

Senegal's interior minister, Antoine Felix Abdoulaye Diome, said the deaths on Thursday had occurred in Dakar, the capital, and in Ziguinchor, a southern city where Sonko is mayor. At least 14 people were killed in clashes after his arrest in 2021.