Amnesty International demanded on Thursday an impartial investigation into the violence that erupted across Senegal last week, which it claimed claimed 23 lives—more than the official death toll.
They made their statement a day after the administration declared that investigations into the violence, which it claimed had taken 16 lives, had begun.
The conflict between June 1-3 was brought on by Ousmane Sonko, the leader of the opposition, receiving a two-year term for “corrupting” a young woman and being disqualified from running for president the following year.
Amnesty International estimates that 23 fatalities, including several from gunfire, occurred between Dakar and Ziguinchor (in the north). The statement also noted that three of those slain were minors.
According to Sonko’s PASTEF-Patriots party, 26 people have died.
Amnesty claimed that after watching images of the violence, armed men were hitting protesters while wearing civilian attire with the police forces.
Seydi Gassama, executive director of Amnesty Senegal, claimed that the video provided proof of human rights abuses.
The administration has consistently refuted Sonko’s claims that his prosecution and eventual conviction were a government plot to prevent him from running for president.
The authorities did not comment when AFP contacted them over Amnesty’s claims.
Human Rights Watch has criticised the government’s handling of the protests and demanded an investigation.
According to the prefecture, the Senegalese government has outlawed two opposition marches against President Macky Sall that were scheduled for this Friday and Saturday.
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