The curfew that entered into force on 21 hours (local and GMT) is pushed back to 23 hours and shall end at 5 o'clock in the morning, announced by the minister of the Interior Aly Ngouille Ndiaye in the aftermath of another night of violent protests. "As of this day, it will be pronounced the lifting of restrictions on transport on the national territory with the maintenance of the curfew from 23 hours to 5 hours in the morning," said the minister in a speech broadcast on public television. "The meetings in public places or private, restaurants, gyms, casinos will benefit from the same flexibility measures ", he added.
the Dakar and several cities have been the scene of protests over the course of two nights, Senegalese, down in the street after the entry into force of the curfew, burning tires, setting up roadblocks and throwing stones against the forces of the order.
at the same time, the number of positive cases is increasing in the country and the president Macky Sall has finally confirmed relief measures, in particular in the transport sector, but in the meantime, it calls for the scrupulous respect of the rules established in the framework of the State of emergency and the fight against the pandemic.
burning Tires, throwing rocks on the police forces, tear gas grenades... the same scenes were to be repeated, and popular neighborhoods of the capital in the interior of the country, as in Kaolack, according to images broadcast by the channel SenTV and on the social networks. For many Senegalese, there is a too-full-after three months of restrictions : "Senegal is at a crossroads, and these events noted a little everywhere in the country are only riots. An empty stomach has no ears. Decrypt the message, dear leaders ", calls a user on Twitter.
Series of protests Against the curfew !#kebetu #Senegal #seneweb #COVID19sn #couvrefeu https://t.co/icxdQ5Ozno
— seneweb .com (@seneweb) June 4, 2020
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Frustrations, weariness and ras-the-bowl
The demonstrations started Tuesday and extended into the night, in a country with nearly 4 000 infections and 45 deaths due to the coronavirus, and where the restrictions imposed by the state of public health emergency are increasingly contested.
In the city of Touba, the seat of the powerful brotherhood of the mourides, 200 kilometers east of Dakar, is the balance sheet of the " three response vehicles of the police and an ambulance burned, the center of treatment of the sick of the Covid-19 attacked, the windows of the [national electricity company] Senelec caillassées ", indicated to AFP a senior member of senegal, speaking under cover of anonymity.
The demonstrations have also hit Mbacké, the neighbour of Touba, where youth have erected barricades and burned tires, as well as Diourbel (centre), and Tamba (Is). "The number of arrests amounted to 74, namely, 29 in Touba, 38 Mbacke, two Diourbel and five to Tamba," said Wednesday at the end of the day, a source close to the file who also requested anonymity.
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media referred
To Mbacké, protestors attacked the local headquarters of radio RFM, owned by the press group, private, singer, and former minister Youssou Ndour, who has suffered "significant damage," said an association of journalists, the Framework of consultation of the correspondents of the department of Mbackè (3CM). The association has called in a statement " the authorities to ensure the safety of the media in times of riots ".
" Those responsible for this destruction should be hunted down and brought to justice ", added the Council of broadcasters and publishers of the press in Senegal (Cdeps, employers), in a separate press release.
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Call for calm and dialogue
In a gesture very rare, the general khalife of mourides, Serigne Mountakha Mbacké, intervened on the tv in the middle of the night from Tuesday to Wednesday to stop protests in Touba, second agglomeration of the country, with over one million inhabitants.
" go home. We'll see tomorrow, the source of the problems and how to resolve them. I think we never saw that in Touba ", said the senior officer of the brotherhood, whose decisions have almost the force of law for its millions of faithful.
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The government between the requirements of economic and health
Established on march 23, by the president Macky Sall to combat the Covid-19, the state of emergency is up here with a curfew from 21 hours to 5 hours and a ban on travel between the regions. It has been extended until the end of June, even if the head of State had announced on may 11, a relaxation of the measures, such as the reopening of markets, shops and places of worship.
many voices were raised calling for a strike more full of restrictions. They invoke the price paid by the disadvantaged in a country where approximately 40 % of the population lives below the poverty line, according to the world Bank, and where many live day-to-day informal activities. But the pandemic continues to progress. The back-to-school, planned for Tuesday, was postponed at the last minute at a " later date ", after the discovery of the contamination of 10 teachers in the Casamance, in the south of the country. A decision is expected in the coming days on the maintenance or not of the measures taken in the framework of the state health emergency.
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