Amid presidential poll postponement protest: Authorities ban mobile internet in Senegal

Mobile internet access in Senegal was suspended on Tuesday for the second time this month, the communications ministry said, after authorities banned a march against the delay to February’s presidential election.

President Macky Sall’s decision to push back the February 25 vote until December plunged Senegal into a crisis that has seen three dead amid clashes between protesters and security forces.

“Due to the dissemination on social networks of several subversive hate messages that have already provoked violent demonstrations, mobile data is suspended this Tuesday, February 13,” the Ministry of Communication, Telecommunications, and Digital Energy said in a statement.

Access to mobile data had already been temporarily restricted eight days ago when parliament backed Sall’s decision to postpone the election.

This decision was severely criticized by rights activists and Senegal’s major international partners, including the United States and the European Union.