By RFIPosted on 13-12-2019Changed on 13-12-2019 at 23:18

The national electricity company (Senelec) has increased its rates by 6 to 10% since December 1.

Two weeks ago, a rally against the rise had resulted in the arrest of several demonstrators outside the gates of the presidential palace, including activist Guy Marius Sagna and university professor Babacar Diop, still in detention. This Friday, December 13, more than thirty civil society organizations called for a march in the capital.

White boubou and matching scarf on the head, Ndack Ndiaye, 73, dances in front of the sound truck. She wrote a few words on a cardboard sign. " I put: " everything is expensive, we are suffocating ". The electricity bill is going up . Taxi drivers will say we will increase, shopkeepers will say we will increase. It is to the detriment of the consumer. "

Jean-Pierre Dieng is the president of the national consumer union of Senegal. He remembers the mobilizations of 2007-2008. “ We have never demonstrated since the hunger riots. We return to the field because quite simply, it is the same state of mind as there is today : it is to replenish the coffers of the State. "

Several hundred demonstrators

In the procession, various slogans: " Free Guy Marius Sagna and Babacar Diop ", " Senegal is bad ", " no to a third term " of President Macky Sall. A mixture of genres that expresses deep unease, according to Mr. Touré, consultant, who says he is demonstrating for the first time in his life. “ Where I live, I waited six days for water, I'm tired of it. It's the general fed up that makes these people here today. "

They are several hundred demonstrators in total. A half-hearted mobilization regretted by Maïmouna Dièye, women coordinator of the Pastef party of Ousmane Sonko: “ It is a shame that the people are still there to suffer the agony that this regime is imposing on us. "

But it is not over for these determined demonstrators, who promise to continue the actions to get their message out.

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