The arrest of an opposition leader sparks protests in Senegal

STANDING OVER a smouldering barricade as riot police draw nearer, Mohamed Thiam, a protester in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, does not mince his words. Macky Sall, the president, “wants to impose a dictatorship”, he declares. “We will not accept it.”Thousands of people took to the streets in Dakar and other cities after the police arrested Ousmane Sonko, the main opposition leader, on March 3rd. They battled the police, blocked roads and burned shops. For days after the arrest the smell of tear-gas wafted through the capital city.