Summary Group were detained during the ceremony at a secondary school in the central town of Kaolack
DAKAR (AFP) - Senegalese authorities have freed 11 people who escaped a lynch mob after being arrested at a gay wedding for "alleged homosexuality", local media and witnesses said on Tuesday.
The group were detained during the ceremony at a secondary school in the central town of Kaolack on December 24, according to state-owned news agency APS.
Transferred on Monday to the local courthouse under heavy police protection, their convoy came under attack from a mob, a witness told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"The crowd wanted to lynch them. People threw stones at both vehicles. Police dispersed the crowd with tear gas," he added.
Local press reported that the detainees -- whose gender has not been reported -- were kept at a secret location overnight before being taken before the prosecutor.
APS reported that "young people began burning tyres on public roads, to show their anger" at the group.
They were released after the prosecutor found insufficient evidence to proceed to trial, the agency said.
Under Senegalese law, anyone convicted of an "improper or unnatural act with a person of the same sex" faces up to five years in jail.
The government has repeatedly ruled out legalising homosexuality in the deeply conservative Muslim-majority country.
President Macky Sall said during US President Barack Obama s visit to Dakar in 2013 that while Senegal was a tolerant country, it was "not yet ready to decriminalise homosexuality".
He repeated the position in an interview on French television in October.
