Protester holds sign outside of the McCormick Convention Center on Friday. (Photo Kevin Du/The UNITY News)

By GERRICK LEWIS and WESLEY LOWERY
The UNITY News Online

Waving signs reading, “Electrical Stun Guns to Beat Journalists,” and “Fair Journalism is Dead in Senegal,” dozens of protesters shouted and pumped their fists in the air as Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade made an appearance before the UNITY convention on Friday.

“What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!,” they shouted as Wade addressed the journalists.

“We want to welcome him in our own way,” said Mohamet Ndiaye. “He has let the country down. There are many misconceptions. So many things are backward.”

Ndiaye, who is from Senegal but now lives in Chicago, said he is fed up with the treatment of journalists in his home country.

“Journalists are beaten and the president hasn’t said anything,” Ndiaye said. “They use fear to control people.”

Falu Zi, a Chicago resident, said the conditions journalists face are horrendous.

“Stun guns. That is what the presidential staff uses on journalists, journalists who are just asking honest questions,” Zi said. “When you write about the truth you’d better pack and run, because the president will have you killed.”

Zi said he is troubled by Wade’s appearance at the convention.

“He is flying around the world on the presidential plane, paid for by the taxpayers, while the people of Senegal are starving, living on less than a dollar a day,” Zi said. “We want the president to stop taking trips while everyone in Senegal is starving.”

Around the corner on the other side of the McCormick Convention Center, more than 70 supporters of Wade held a rally. Many of them traveled here from New York to greet the president.

“We want more years with Wade,” said Mamadov Sene, a New York resident. “We traveled 14 hours by bus to support our president. We were born under him; you see good people and bad people. We want to show people he is a good president. The people voted for him.”

Cheikh Mabache Samb, Security Advisor to President Wade said the rally was planned to show support for all Wade is doing.

“We have problems all over the planet, it’s not just in Senegal, it’s all over the place,” Samb said. “We’re not saying everything is perfect.”