(17 Feb 2023)
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4419982
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dakar, Senegal - 16 February 2023
1. Police vehicles driving down street with police standing on sides of vehicles
HEADLINE: Senegal Police Force Opposition Leader From Car
2. Tear gas canister exploding and tear gas around car carrying Senegalese opposition politician Ousmane Sonko
3. Traffic stopped, with police on street and tear gas
ANNOTATION: Supporters cheering Ousmane Sonko as his car passed were met with tear gas from the police.
3. Man wiping vinegar on face to try to reduce effects of tear gas
ANNOTATION: Some tried using vinegar to rub away the effects of the tear gas.
4. Police surrounding Sonko’s car
ANNOTATION: Police officers surrounded Sonko's car.
5. Police getting Sonko out of his car
ANNOTATION: The police then demanded Sonko get out, and drove him away. Local media say he was taken back to his home.
6. Sonko’s car and police vehicle driving away
7. Sonko’s supporters waving Senegalese flags on the side of the road
ANNOTATION: 46-year-old Ousmane Sonko finished third in Senegal's 2019 presidential election.
ANNOTATION: Sonko’s supporters saw this incident as the latest attempt to cut short his political career, including his likely presidential candidacy in 2024.
STORYLINE:
Police in Senegal smashed the window of a car in which a top opposition leader was sitting and forced him from the vehicle Thursday, marking the latest unrest surrounding a likely challenger to the ruling party in elections next year.
Video shot by The Associated Press showed police physically removing Ousmane Sonko from the back seat of his car after he appeared in a Dakar court.
Authorities later escorted the 46-year-old politician to his residence, according to Senegalese media.
Sonko’s supporters saw the incident as the latest attempt to cut short his political career, including his likely presidential candidacy in 2024.
Sonko finished third in Senegal’s 2019 presidential election and has called on President Macky Sall to say publicly that he won’t seek a third term.
The opposition leader was in court as part of a civil lawsuit against him by Senegal’s tourism minister for defamation and public insults.
After leaving the courthouse, Sonko greeted his supporters from his car.
Police officers soon began firing tear gas at the crowd, according to AP journalists at the scene.
The officers then stopped Sonko’s car and demanded that he get out.
It was unclear why police broke the car’s windows and the government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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