DAKAR: Senegalese riot police fired tear gas to break up a tense, thousands-strong rally in Dakar Tuesday by protesters demanding that President Abdoulaye Wade drop his bid for a third term in office.
Witnesses and officials said a 32-year-old student in the crowd died after being run over by a vehicle as police dispersed the crowds.
The police denied allegations from some media outlets that the incident involved a police vehicle, a day after security forces shot dead a 60-year-old woman and a teenager at another rally.
Opposition groups united under the June 23 Movement (M23) have called for mass resistance after a decision last Friday by the country's top judges cleared 85-year-old Wade to seek a third mandate in February 26 polls.
Thousands gathered on a square in the working class suburb of Colobane, where tension rose and angry youths hurled rocks at scores of riot police keeping watch from afar.
Iconic singer Youssou Ndour, whose presidential hopes were dashed when Senegal's highest court rejected his candidacy, gestured encouragingly from the stage when the crowd chanted: "Let's march to the palace," referring to the presidency downtown.
The agitated protesters, claiming a "constitutional coup d'etat" by Wade, dispersed after police fired tear gas and sprayed water on them, but some youths burnt tyres and engaged in running battles with police in side streets after the square emptied out.
An AFP journalist saw a woman with injuries to one of her legs.
A ruling by Senegal's constitutional council that Wade was legally allowed to seek another term has sparked fury among opponents who accuse him of fiddling with the law to remain in power.
"We have decided to take on oppression, injustice, dictatorship," presidential candidate Moustapha Niasse told journalists, his eyes red from tear gas.
One of Africa's most stable nations, Senegal has been rocked by riots since Friday's ruling, prompting international calls for calm.
Amnesty International urged authorities "to refrain from using live bullets against peaceful protesters" after two people were shot dead and several others wounded during a protest Monday in the northern city of Podor.
Salvatore Sagues, the global rights body's west Africa researcher, said Monday's bloodshed was a "dramatic escalation" of violence in the country normally seen as a beacon of democracy among often troubled neighbours.
Washington has urged Wade, in office since 2000, to allow power to pass "to the next generation."
But El Hadj Amadou Salla, minister of state and a senior Wade campaign official, said it was "too late" and the president's candidacy has already been validated.
The opposition argues that the constitution allows a president to serve only two consecutive terms.
Wade says a constitutional amendment to presidential terms does not apply retroactively, which means the two terms he has already served cannot be taken into account and theoretically allows him to serve two more seven-year terms from 2012.
"I ask the majority to go out and protest, peacefully, to put an end to this coup d'etat," the Grammy-winning Ndour said.
"I hold the majority in Senegal. I am the recourse," added the singer.
Besides Wade, the council approved 13 other candidates to run in the election -- including three former prime ministers and main opposition leader Ousmane Tanor Dieng.
Moustapha Niasse, one of the opposition candidates, said Tuesday that the June 23 Movement "has taken a formal decision not to boycott the upcoming presidential election ... because that would please Wade and his system."
Wade told a local news website last Thursday that he needs three more years to complete his projects, fueling speculation that he wants to line up a successor.
He has long been accused of trying to position his 44-year-old son Karim Wade -- already a super-minister in his cabinet -- to fill his shoes.
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