Flag # 11: Senegal

Location: Dakar, Senegal

Name: Mamadou Diop,

Mamadou Diop and his fellow university students have been protesting against teacher strikes over the last few weeks and more recently against the Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade who is seeking a third run at elections at the end of this month. Wade’s candidacy goes against the constitution, which he amended in 2001 to restrict presidents to two seven year terms, but now says it only pertains to his section term when he was re-elected in 2007. Clashes with the police broke out earlier in the month in protest over this bid, and a fellow schoolmate of Mamadou’s (also called Mamadou Diop) was killed when a truck ran over him. The Friday this photo was taken, the students, along with an opposition coalition, had called for a moment of silence during the afternoon prayer in Dakar’s city center and I caught up with Mamadou only hours before.