January 31st Protest

It was to be expected: I arrived early, like I usually do. The protest started late, as things in Africa usually do.



I met up with the team from Al Jazeera and let them know that the police were setting up just past the monument. We got some shots of them forming a perimeter around 2:30pm, well before anyone arrived for the demonstration, which was scheduled for 3pm in La Place de L'Obelisque (or, as some old-school Dakar residents will know it as, The Monument).



By around 4 pm a crowd of a few hundred had gathered. It was a mixture of mostly men, groups of young women, children and a few older women milling about in the triangle in front of the Obelisque. I stopped one elderly lady and asked her why she was there.

"Wade needs to leave," she said. "We are tired of him."
"Are you here for your family?" I asked
"I am here for myself, I am here for everyone."

Another young woman said in an interview with Al Jazeera that she didn't understand why Wade had told Gaddafi to leave office, but now was insisting on his right to run for a third term.



As the people grew quiet and bored waiting for the M23 leaders to arrive, Y'en a Marre was assembled behind the monument. They held signs, chanting and singing in preparation to march to the open area in front of L'Obelisque.



Then opposition leader Macky Sall arrived, waving from an SUV as his supporters walked down the street yelling. This was where things got going. By the time they reached the square there were thousands gathered.



As I walked across the sand to the other side of the monument, I stopped to take a picture of three little boys. They were quite fascinated by my audio recorder, and one little boy started talking into it quite loudly in Wolof. One of his friends laughed and told him to speak in French. I managed to piece together that they were Idrissa Seck supporters.

"He's going to help us," they said.

"And what about Wade?" I asked

"We want him to go."



I gave them my orange for their trouble and hoped they would get out of there before things started to heat up.

The Al Jazeera team and I headed to the upper floor of a nearby building to watch from the balcony. Y'en a Marre marched on the square, forming a huge mass of people that filled the space in front of the monument and the surrounding street.

Then Youssou N'Dour arrived. A huge cheer went up from the crowd. There was a definite air of celebration and hope in the air as people sang the national anthem of Senegal. It was quite moving to see so many people (my estimate would be over 10,000) coming together to stand up for their rights as citizens of this country.



When the speeches began I decided it was time to leave and caught a taxi home. Just in time apparently, since people began tweeting that the protesters were burning tires and the police were shooting tear gas soon after I left. Several people have been injured tonight, and reports say that one young person has died after being run over by a police vehicle. After watching a video of the attack, I am shocked more people were not killed. The armored police vehicle drove right into a crowd near the Obelisque, as another truck came behind firing shot after shot of tear gas.

Here is the report by Al Jazeera that I helped with. I'm just a bit tired now, so it might give you the information my muddled brain missed.

Good night everyone. Pray for peace in Senegal.

Update: Senegal

Here is what has happened since my last post:

- Riots on Friday left one police officer dead, and the remnants of burned tires and market tables in the streets
- Senegal's Constitutional Court has said that Youssou N'Dour is not eligible to run, as 4000 of his required signatures were deemed invalid
- The court denied the appeals of N'Dour (to be able to run), the opposition (to disqualify Wade) and Wade (to disqualify certain opposition candidates)
- A youth who was said to be a leader in the M23 protest movement was killed in Podor
- 80% of news websites operating out of Senegal are said to be not functioning properly
- An M23 protest is scheduled for 3pm tomorrow at Place de l'Obelisque
- The opposition and Youssou N'Dour have all been quoted as saying that they will not allow Wade to become president for a third term. Opposition parties say that they will make the country "ungovernable".

In all this, the international media is starting to realize that the story is not that Youssou N'Dour, international superstar, is getting into politics- it's that 80+-year-old Wade isn't getting out of politics.

More updates are posted on my Twitter.

A Different Senegal

I'm typing from the other side of the ocean now.

I've officially left Canada, with no plans of returning any time soon. A stop-over at home in Senegal for a month or two seemed only natural as I prepare to enter the international journalism scene (more on that another day). I'll be moving to Tunisia soon, but for the time being I am soaking up the sunshine in my second home. And let me tell you, while so much has remained the same, this is not the Senegal I knew growing up.

The Arab spring has had a huge effect on the usually peaceful Senegalese. Peaceful (and not-so-peaceful) protests are popping up on a regular basis as our country gears up for an election in February. Our aging President Wade (his age is contested, but most agree he is in his late 80s to mid 90s) has decided to run again, claiming that the constitutional change limiting a president to two terms doesn't apply to him because it occurred during his first term. While Wade was in opposition he opposed corruption like this from his nemesis Abdou Diouf: Now he has a bevy of his own discrepancies to answer for.

Before I leave, I am adding a conversation with a group called Y'en a marre! to my Senegal bucket list. "Y'en a marre" translates to "had enough," after a song written by Côte D'Ivoirian reggae singer Tiken Jah Fakoly. The was group, led by popular Senegalese rappers, formed in February of last year to protest against Wade's candidacy. The leaders of the group have stirred up young men in the country to political action. They've been imprisoned, but have kept fighting for democracy and change in the country. They are made up of the impoverished working class, a collection of youth who refuse to align themselves with a political party. To me, that sounds like much-needed change, but I'd like to interview them first-hand to be sure.

About a month ago my dad and I watched a video online of a man shooting at a crowd of protesters. He was calm, nonchalant and swaggering as though he were doing nothing more than shooing away a few pesky little boys. What is even more disturbing is that people are walking by in the video as if nothing as happening. They most likely believed his was shooting off fireworks since it was the holiday season. One young man died that day, as the police stood back and watched. The man who shot him is Barthelemy Dias, whose face was all over the paper my old friend Moussa brought me the next day. Dias is the opposition Socialist Party's youth leader, and he has now been arrested on murder charges and possession of an illegal firearm. He was shooting at a group of young men from the ruling party, who he claims attacked his office.

This is not the old Senegal, a place where the only major violence happens down south in the Cassamance. This is not the Senegal that held the first ever peaceful transfer of power in Africa. This is a Senegal of anger and frustration, of protests and riot police. This is a Senegal with embassy emails about contingency evacuation plans, and notices saying to avoid going downtown. But maybe it will be a Senegal of change in the weeks and months to come.