DAKAR: Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko on Tuesday called for mass protests as the country braced for the outcome of his trial on rape charges.
Escalating a tug-of-war with President Macky Sall's government, Sonko said he was being "illegally held" by security forces.
"I urge all Senegalese people to come out onto the streets," he said on social media.
He added: "Everyone should rise up as one, because power should remain with the people."
Sonko, 48-year-old leader of the PASTEF-Patriots party, is a fiery critic of head of state Macky Sall and wields a big following among young people.
He came third in the 2019 presidential elections and has already declared he will contest next year's ballot.
He faces the expected verdict on Thursday of a rape trial whose details have left the conservative West African state riveted.
Sonko denies the allegations and says his prosecution is a political plot to bar him from the 2024 vote.
Tensions have stoked fears of a repeat of deadly violence that has battered Senegal's standing as a beacon of stability in troubled West Africa.
When Sonko was arrested in 2021, several days of clashes left at least 12 people dead.
Sonko boycotted the first two sessions of the trial, citing security reasons.
But last Friday, he set out for Dakar at the head of a so-called "caravan of freedom" of supporters from Ziguinchor, a city in southern Senegal where he is mayor.
The convoy led to clashes with security forces in which one man died before police swooped in and took him to Dakar.
Sonko resurfaced on social media overnight Monday to say he was being "illegally held" and make the call for mass protests.
"How can a country that calls itself a democracy justify confining without any legal basis a citizen whose only wrong was to be a fervent and unflinching opponent of Macky Sall's regime?" he asked.
He called for a "national resistance movement" to defend democracy and freedoms.
Feelings among Sonko supporters are running high ahead of the climax of the trial.
Young followers clashed with police in several areas of Dakar. — AFP
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