They amassed at Place de l'Obelisque, just outside Dakar's downtown district, to demand the departure of 85-year-old President Abdoulaye Wade who is attempting to run for a third term. The constitution only allows a president to serve for two terms, and Wade has angered the population of this normally stable country on Africa's western coast by insisting on an interpretation of the electoral code which would allow him to run again in 2012.

The protest marks the one-month anniversary of the massive June 23 demonstration which was the country's largest in recent memory and which emboldened the opposition, raising hopes that an Arab Spring-style democracy movement could spread south to sub-Saharan countries.