Earlier this year, Senegal was plunged into its most violent unrest for decades. In the capital Dakar and around the country, thousands of people – mostly men – took to the streets, burning cars and shops and hurling rocks at police. Police responded with force and at least ten people are thought to have died.
It was not economic reforms or new pandemic measures that had incited the disorder, but the arrest of a powerful man accused of rape. Although the violent demonstrations made headlines around the world, Senegalese media were transfixed by someone else: the woman behind the rape accusation.
In February, a massage parlour worker went to the police and accused Ousmane Sonko, a popular opposition politician, of raping and threatening to kill her. He was subsequently arrested in March – this is what sparked the violent demonstrations – and she became the target of harassment. (He is currently out on bail.)
