Dakar lifts protest ban as anti-Wade rallies continue

AFP - Senegal's interior ministry has lifted a ban on an opposition rally due to take place on Tuesday afternoon against President Abdoulaye Wade's plans to seek a third term in office, the organisers said.

Mor Ngom, of the June 23 Movement of opposition parties and civil society opposed to Wade's elections plans, said authorities had "accepted" the holding of a mass rally.

Dozens of riot policeman watched from a distance as people began arriving at the Place de l'Obelisque square in the working class suburb of Colobane on Tuesday afternoon.

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The protest to force Wade to give up his third term ambitions has raised the spectre of further violence in the normally stable nation which has been rocked by riots since Friday, when another rally in the square turned violent.

The unrest was sparked by a constitutional council ruling which gave Wade, 85, the green light to run in February 26 polls despite having already served two terms in office.

They upheld the octogenarian's argument that an amendment to term lengths in 2008 did not apply retroactively and that he could seek two more terms.