Senegal protesters torch buildings in power riots

DAKAR (AFP) - Burned out tyres and debris littered Senegal's seaside capital Tuesday as life returned to normal after a night of angry protests against power cuts in which several government buildings were torched.

From Ouakam in the north-west of Dakar to Guediawaye in the east, offices of state electricity company Senelec were pillaged and burned by the protesters, with vehicles set on fire and windows shattered.

It was not yet known if there were any injuries or arrests after residents frustrated with crippling power cuts took to the streets in spontaneous protest late Monday night.

The public anger against mounting power cuts first erupted in the fishing town of Mbour, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) from Dakar, where police fired tear gas to disperse the demonstrators.

"Everything is broken in the Senelec" offices -- computers and cars -- a witness from Mbour told AFP, adding that tensions prevailed across the town.

Local media reported that "electricity riots" had also taken place in Thies in the west and Mbacke and Kaolack in the centre of the country.

Power cuts have steadily worsened in Senegal over the past months and can last up to two days in some areas, damaging economic activity.

The latest protests come after President Abdoulaye Wade dropped a plan to run for a third term in February 2012 elections that led to nationwide protests and riots in Dakar that left more than 100 people injured -- the largest demonstrations since he took power in 2000.

Controversial election law changes, which have now been shelved, would have added a vice president to the presidential ticket for next year's polls, and brought down the winning threshold for a first-round victory to 25 percent of votes from the current 50 percent.

Wade's critics saw the measures as a scheme by the president to avoid a second round of voting and line up his 42-year-old son Karim Wade, already a government minister, for succession.