The violent demonstrations of Wednesday, February 16, 1994 on the sidelines of the rally of the Coordination of Democratic Forces (CFD), a coalition of the opposition, bringing together five political parties and led by the Leader of the Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS), Me Abdoulaye Wade, officially cost the life of 06 police officers and a civilian.
February 16, 1994-16 February 2025: 31 years that Senegal, in its long march towards democracy and the rule of law, experienced tragic events. During a rally on the aisles of the centenary 06 police officers and a civilian lost their lives. Trapped in the demonstrators who managed to thwart the staircase plan put in place to contain them, the police could not resist their fury. Thus, six police officers were killed in their vehicle, a bus “Saviem” parked on the boulevard near the roundabout of the headquarters of the National Agency of the Central Bank of the States of Africa (BCEAO), angle 11 Medina renamed “Place El Hadj Mansour Mbaye”, was burned and completely calcined. A macabre scene that this body of the Dakar Operational Group (God) of the police intervention has never recorded since its creation.
By duty of memory, a stele was erected within the Abdou Diassé camp to immortalize these valiant servants of the nation with the mention: “Dead for: maintaining public order and the defense of public freedoms”. We also record, according to the official version, a civilian civilian weapon. There have also been dozens of injured and nearly 150 people, including around a hundred members of the “Dahiratoul Moustarchidina Wal Moustarchidaty” movement of which Serigne Pape Malick Sy. Opposition leaders were arrested in Dakar and other cities such as Saint-Louis and Thiès on February 24 and 25, 1994; Almost 10 days after the violent and charged with state security involvement. The meeting was organized on the initiative of the Coordination of Democratic Forces (CFD) bringing together 5 then opposition political parties. It was a rally authorized by the administrative authority at the street 25-English boulevard general de Gaulle, in the middle of the month of Ramadan to demonstrate against the policy of economic austerity following the devaluation of the CFA franc.
The demonstration led by Me Abdoulaye Wade and supported by the disciples of the “Dahiratoul Moustarchidina Wal Moustarchidaty” strongly mobilized, and whose moral manager, Serigne Mouhamadou Moustapha Sy, was sentenced on January 14, 1994 to a year in prison for disorders of nature to discredit the State for having publicly denounced, during a Meeting of the PDS, which symbolized, according to the religious guide, the regime of President Abdou Diouf. He will not be released until September 12, 1994 following a presidential pardon. At the final count of this dark day where Senegal has come close to institutional chaos, the material and human assessment was very heavy, in addition to the many seriously injured.
In a statement published on Wednesday evening, the government “vigorously condemned these acts of vandalism which cannot in any case destabilize the institutions and announced that the authors will be sought, arrested and punished”. According to a report entitled “Massive arrests and torture”, the Senegalese section of “Amnesty International” estimates that “nearly 150 people were arrested in February 1994 and charged with damage to state security”. The arrest of parliamentarians is marked by the violation of legal proceedings relating to parliamentary immunity. Indeed, on February 18, 1994, Me Abdoulaye Wade and Landing Savané – respectively secretaries general of the PDS and the African Party for Democracy and Socialism (PADS) – were arrested at their home by the police. During the following days, a third deputy, Pope Oumar Kane of the PDS, and two other activists from the same party were also incarcerated in Dakar central prison. The five were charged with involvement in state security … Thanks to presidential pardon, the leaders arrested will be released a few months later after having started a hunger strike. However, on today, there is still no culprit.
Mamadou lamine dieye
