The Senegalese government has decided to suspend for a week the broadcasting of the Walf TV channel for its «irresponsible» coverage of the protests that broke out last Friday between police and supporters of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko in the town of Mbacké, some 200 kilometers from the capital, Dakar.
According to the communiqué of the National Authority for the Regulation of Communications, reported by the Senegalese newspaper ‘Le Quotidien’, the channel broadcast «on repeated occasions images of violence showing teenagers, accompanied by dangerous mentions, including those made by journalists, in complete violation of its regulations».
Tempers have been particularly heated in Senegal since a couple of weeks ago, when a court in the country announced that Sonko will face trial on charges of rape and death threats to a beauty salon employee in 2021, in what the opponent describes as a political persecution.
A trial could jeopardize his intention to compete in the 2024 presidential election. Sonko, third in the 2019 elections, has assured that he intends to run in the polls.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
