The Senegalese government announced on Tuesday that it had opened an investigation following the broadcasting of videos showing armed men in civilian clothes, accused of violently attacking demonstrators during the unrest that followed the conviction of opposition politician Ousmane Sonko in early June.
“An investigation has been opened into the controversy caused by videos (of armed men in civilian clothes) circulating on social networks in recent days. It will be up to Senegal’s justice system to establish the truth,” Interior Minister Antoine Félix Abdoulaye Diome told the press.
He made the statement in the presence of Prime Minister Amadou Bâ during a visit to the BRT construction site, a rapid bus project designed to alleviate traffic congestion in Dakar. The site’s installations were damaged by the demonstrators.
Videos and eyewitness accounts depict armed men in civilian clothes driving in pick-up trucks and chasing demonstrators during the unrest that followed Sonko’s conviction. Supporters of Sonko accuse the presidential camp of hiring these “thugs” to aid the police and gendarmes in suppressing the protesters. The presence of these armed men, reported by numerous local and international media outlets, has been strongly condemned by human rights activists.
From 1st June to 3rd June, Senegal experienced its most severe unrest in years after Sonko was sentenced to two years in prison. The violence officially claimed the lives of 16 people, although Amnesty International reports the death toll as 23.
