Fourteen people, including a member of the Senegalese parliament, were arrested on Saturday outside the Tunisian embassy in Dakar, according to the prefect and a lawyer representing them, for “participating in a prohibited demonstration”.
The lawyer, Moussa Sarr, indicated that the 14 people, including the deputy Guy Marius Sagna, were still detained at the central police station in Dakar.
The city prefect, Mor Talla Tine, confirmed the arrests. One of those arrested also confirmed to AFP his arrest and that of the deputy. According to the lawyer, two journalists were also arrested before being immediately released. “They are arrested for participating in a prohibited demonstration. They had left to individually file protest letters at the Tunisian embassy,” the lawyer said. This incident follows outrage over Tunisian President Kais Saied’s remarks against illegal immigration from sub-Saharan Africa .
On February 21, Mr. Saied said that the presence in Tunisia of “hordes” of illegal immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa was a source of “violence and crimes” and was part of a “criminal enterprise” aimed at “changing the demographic composition” of the country.
Those arrested on Saturday belong to various organizations which had called on their members to bring protest letters to the Tunisian embassy, after the Senegalese authorities banned a rally scheduled for Saturday. “We (…) come by this letter to protest against the ongoing hunt for black Africans in Tunisia after the racist and hateful remarks of the Tunisian president”, indicates one of the letters from an activist consulted by AFP.
Hundreds of nationals from Guinea, Mali and Côte d’Ivoire have been repatriated from Tunisia on planes sent by their governments.
With AFP