Gambian police said Tuesday that over 20 people have been charged over an anti-Senegalese riot this month in the tiny West African country surrounded by Senegal. On March 15, the coastal fishing town of Sanyang erupted in violence after a Senegalese man allegedly murdered a Gambian named Gibril Ceesay. Crowds then torched a police station, looted a Chinese-owned fishmeal processing plant, destroyed fishing boats and attacked homes, the police said in a statement. Senegal's ambassador to The Gambia, Bassirou Sene, said Senegalese fishermen in the town had tried to shelter the suspected murderer and were attacked by locals. He told Senegalese media that police officers detained the suspect in the police station but that "assailants ransacked it". Anti-foreigner violence is rare in The Gambia, the smallest country on mainland Africa. However relations with its larger neighbour Senegal are sometimes strained. Top Gambian police officials said they had launched an investigation and arrested 50 people. Twenty-two people from that group have been charged with criminal offences, including rioting and conspiracy to commit felony. "They will be arraigned before the courts as soon as possible," a police statement said. About 250 foreigners -- who are mostly Senegalese -- have been placed in temporary accommodation in a nearby town, according to the police. et-eml/ach