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As protests and riots rocked the capital city of Dakar, the Senegal government has cut internet access to certain areas in the country.
Unrest has spread in Senegal after opposition leader Ousmane Sonko was sentenced to a two-year jail term on a two-year-old rape case. Reports state that over 16 people have died in the protests, which have turned violent.
A jail term would restrict Sonko from running in the upcoming Presidential election set to be held in February. Sonko’s supporters maintain that the prosecution is politically motivated. He has also denied any wrongdoing.
On Sunday, the government called the internet shutdown a measure to control the “hateful and subversive” messages being disseminated through social media platforms.
According to data provided by Cloudflare Radar, the government’s move follows its earlier attempt at blocking social media sites.
Cloudflare Radar is a service that looks into global Internet traffic, cyber attacks, and technology trends. Data showed an outage starting at 13;35 UTC on June 4th, Cloudflare Radar said in a tweet. Internet was also disrupted for more than three hours, they added.
This post was last modified on June 6, 2023 3:21 pm