Four people have died in demonstrations since Senegal's Constitutional Court last week ruled that Abdoulaye Wade could run for re-election as president.
A man in his thirties became the latest victim when he died in hospital on Tuesday, according to reports from Suma Assistance, the medical facility where he was being treated. He was injured when a police vehicle drove into a crowd. Police has since denied responsibility for the death of the young man.
Professor El Hadj Niang, a medical doctor and president of a civil society movement, said in a radio broadcast that police action had been "criminal". He testified that he saw police shooting at an ambulance while he was trying to evacuate a 30-year-old woman who had been shot in the leg.
The protests were authorised by the interior minister and included most other presidential aspirants, both those whose candidature had been approved and others whose applications to stand had been rejected.
The demonstration started at about 3pm and by 7pm the crowd, made up mostly of people of voting age, was already leaving. But at about 7:20pm a crowd of determined youths tried to make their way to the presidential palace. When they were met by heavily-armed troops, there was an exchange of stones and teargas and a young coffee seller was shot in the leg.
A radio broadcast from the scene reported that presidential candidates Moustapha Niass from Coalition Bennoo Sigguil Senegal (Union For the Reformation of Senegal), Ousmane Tanor Dieng and Cheikh Bamba Dièye were beaten by police.
On Radio RFM, Moustapha Niass condemned the attitude of the police. He said Wade's use of the security forces was a blatant abuse of power.
On Monday, two people were killed in Podor, 490km from Dakar, after a shooting by police officers during a protest organised by Mouvement Y’En A Marre, a movement which is opposed to Wade's candidature. On January 27, a young police officer succumbed to injuries sustained in the demonstration that followed the Constitutional Court's validation of Wade running for another term as president.
