Security forces in Senegal fired tear gas at a crowd hurling rocks on Wednesday, as violence erupted after the archbishop of Dakar accused the president of insulting the country's Christian minority.
Several dozen young people threw stones at security forces Wednesday outside Dakar cathedral, an AFP journalist said, as worshippers leaving the service tried to reason with the angry crowd.
The clashes broke out following a New Year message from cardinal Theodore Adrien Sarr, the archbishop of Dakar, who accused the government in the Muslim majority country of insulting Senegal's Christians. The archbishop said President Abdoulaye Wade had made "damaging remarks" about Christians. He added it was "scandalous and intolerable that the divinity of Jesus Christ, heart of our faith, is called into question and ridiculed by the highest authority of the state."
The archbishop was angered by Wade's comments on Monday about Christian churches -- the president said Muslims view churches as places to "pray to someone who is not God." |