Liked more than 1,000 times, the post was published by an account that frequently shares anti-Western content, referring to the Senegalese president as a \u201cFrench puppet\u201d.<\/p>\n
Senegal gained independence from France in 1960 and has never experienced a coup, making it a rare outlier in coup-hit West Africa.<\/p>\n
But on February 3, President Macky Sall announced a delay to the February 25 elections, just hours before campaigning began.<\/p>\n
Senegalese lawmakers confirmed the decision shortly after, paving the way for Sall to remain in office until his successor is installed, despite growing concern about the erosion of democracy in the country. AFP has been covering the story<\/a> (archived here<\/a>).<\/p>\n The post includes a 27-second long video showing individuals throwing projectiles as uniformed men shoot gas canisters into the crowd.<\/p>\n \u201cThey can\u2019t fall. If someone falls, they\u2019re dead. Pay attention, pay attention,\u201d says a man speaking in French behind the camera.<\/p>\n Most comments are in English and come from accounts based in Nigeria and South Africa, calling for similar protests in their own countries.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will still come\u2026Nigeria, get ready it is obviously inevitable the time to take back our country has reaped (sic)<\/em>,\u201d reads one comment.<\/p>\n \u201cWell done to the Senegalese for not allowing a tyrant and stooge of imperialism to have his way,\u201d says another.<\/p>\n Although violent street protests<\/a> did rock Dakar after Sall\u2019s announcement (archived here<\/a>), the video is old.<\/p>\n Using a reverse image search<\/a>, AFP Fact Check found a French-language post from March 18, 2023<\/a>, that includes the same clip used in the false post (archived here<\/a>).<\/p>\n2023 video<\/strong><\/h3>\n