On Friday, army personnel were stationed in many parts of Dakar, Senegal’s capital, as the city braced for more unrest following the imprisonment of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko.

Mr Sonko was handed a two-year sentence for corrupting youths on Thursday, which sparked riots between police and his followers that resulted in nine deaths.

The opposition said that the court’s decision was politically motivated and could bar Mr Sonko from contesting the forthcoming elections in the country.

On Friday, streets were quiet but littered with burning cars, rocks, and broken glass, and lined with damaged homes and businesses. 

According to government spokesman Abdou Karim Fofana, the army was sent in to boost security.

Violence erupted on Thursday at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, with demonstrators torching buses and hurling rocks at riot police, who then used tear gas to disperse the crowd.

In order to flee the violence, Alioune Ndiaye, a student, said he intended to travel hundreds of kilometres to his home in eastern Senegal.

“Yesterday was difficult and violent. My main concern is that the school year could be cancelled,” he said.

The incident on Thursday was the most recent in months of unrest in Senegal, long regarded as one of West Africa’s best democracies. It was spurred by Mr Sonko’s court case as well as worries that President Macky Sall might try to circumvent the two-term limit and run for office again in the upcoming elections next February.