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    February 21, 2012

Senegal Protests Dispersed with Tear Gas

   Ricci Shryock | Dakar
   Protesters in Senegal demand that President Abdoulaye Wade quit his bid
   for a third term in February 26 elections, Feb 21, 2012.
   Photo: VOA - R. Shryock/Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
   Protesters in Senegal demand that President Abdoulaye Wade quit his bid
   for a third term in February 26 elections, Feb 21, 2012.

   After what began as peaceful protests, crowds were dispersed by teargas
   in Dakar's downtown Tuesday, as opposition forces gathered to continue
   their demands that Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade abandon his run
   for a third term in Sunday's presidential elections.
   Senegal's most famous musician, Youssou N'Dour, arrived at the protests
   to cheering crowds. N'Dour had attempted to run in the presidential
   race, but the Constitutional Court declared his candidacy invalid in
   January.
   At Tuesday's rally, mostly youth protesters from the group known as the
   M23 chanted and sang as police blocked them from entering Dakar's Place
   de l'Independence.
   The hundreds of demonstrators sang along to a popular song, 'Na Dem.'
   The chorus, in the most widely spoken Senegalese language of Wolof, can
   be translated into 'Go Away, Old Man,' referring to Wade, who is 85
   though the validity of his actual age has been questioned this election
   cycle.
   Despite changes to the constitution that Wade himself made during his
   first term in office that limited the Presidency in Senegal to two
   terms, Wade is aiming for a third term. His government says Wade's
   first term did not count because he was elected before the two-term
   limit was introduced.

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