["Journal of Agrarian Change, EarlyView. ", "\nABSTRACT\nHow do people at the outskirts of Dakar struggle against urban land grabs and state‐led dispossession for urban development? How do they express the injustices they face and their demands for justice? What are they claiming, and what success have they had? This paper examines the struggle of landholders and residents of a village 30 km from Dakar, against a private housing project supported by the state. It analyses the losses of the landholders, the history of the protests and how people express their anger and feelings of injustice. Rather than claiming multiple citizenship based on customary belonging, the affected landholders of Dougar behave as national citizens, expecting protection from the state. They demand recognition, fair treatment and just compensation in case of eviction. However, they do not explicitly challenge the land law that allows for such dispossession. While numerous villages in the Dakar region face similar dispossessions, no collective movement demanding stronger legal land rights and renewed citizenship has yet emerged.\n"]