After a jail sentence for opposition leader Ousmane Sonko sparked one of the deadliest days of violence in the country's recent memory.

Nine people were killed in clashes between riot police and Sonko supporters on Thursday (June 1) after he was sentenced to two years for corrupting youth.

The verdict could prevent Sonko from running in elections next year, and the opposition says it was politically motivated.

Security forces patrolled streets that were quiet but strewn with burned cars and debris.

Large groups of students were bused out of this Dakar university campus, which became the epicenter of Thursday's violence.

Student Alioune Ndiaye took part in protests.

"It split our hearts, which is why why we demonstrated. Tension was also very high, because the students ransacked almost all the important places in the university. The Faculty of Law was also affected, because they said it had no reason to exist. Since the judges have been corrupted, even though it's here that we learn all the laws and the rules of justice, if these laws are not applied, the students have decided that this Faculty has no reason to exist".

Months of protests have been sparked by Sonko's court case.

As well as concerns that President Macky Sall will try to bypass the two-term limit and run again in February elections.

Sall has neither confirmed nor denied this.