Dozens of protesters clashed with police in Senegal’s capital Dakar after lawmakers were blocked from visiting the home of a prominent opposition politician on trial for separate charges of rape and libel.

Police fired tear gas at groups of demonstrators who built makeshift barricades along one of Dakar’s main highways. In one neighborhood, cars were gutted by fire and a ministerial building was set alight.

It is the latest round of months of unrest triggered by president Macky Sall's refusal to rule out running for a third term in office and by court cases involving a leading rival, Ousmane Sonko, who denies wrongdoing and says the charges are aimed at ruling him out of presidential elections next February.