Thousands march in protest at growing political violence

Several thousand people marched through the centre of Dakar on Thursday to protest at several recent acts of political violence in Senegal which they said have gone unpunished. The catalyst for the demonstration, organised by opposition leaders, trade unionists and human rights activists, was a hammer attack on outspoken opposition leader Talla Sylla on 5 October. Sylla, the leader of the Alliance for Progress and Justice (APJ/Jef-Jel) party, was severely injured in the attack and was flown to France for hospital treatment. According to witnesses, the assault was carried out by members of the entourage of President Abdoulaye Wade. Several officials at the presidency were subsequently questioned by police about the attack, but no-one has so far been arrested in connection with the crime. The demonstrators were also protesting at arson attacks over the past three years on the headquarters of the National Confederation of Workers (CNT) trade union movement, the PSD/Jant Bi opposition party and the independent Wal Fadjri radio and newspaper group and the killing of a student in 2001. Organisers estimated the number of marchers at 10,000 to 12,000. Police said there were only 2,500. Ousmane Tanor Dieng, leader of the opposition Senegalese Socialist Party, said: "We are marching against the generalised atmosphere of impunity, the shortcomings of the state on security matters. It is unacceptable that, with three years to go before the next elections, there should be political violence." Tanor said he was "astonished" that Wade had refrained from condemning the hammer attack on Sylla. The president simply described it as "an incident. Djibo Ka, leader of the opposition Union for Democratic Renewal (URD) party accused Wade's government of being behind last month's hammer attack on Sylla. "Instead of assessing what they have achieved in governing the country since March 2000, they are beating up their opponents," he said. Despite the existence of a low-intensity guerrilla war by separatist guerrillas in the southern province of Casamance, Senegal enjoy's the reputation of being one of the most tolerant and democractic countries in Africa. The country has had a multi-party political system since independence from France in 1960, which has never been disrupted by military coups or the imposition of a one-party state.