THE United Nations (UN) has urged authorities in Madagascar to refrain from using excessive force against protesters, following violent clashes with police during a Gen Z-led protest in the capital, amid two weeks of ongoing unrest that has turned deadly.
The United Nations’ human rights office made the call in a post on social media on Friday, October 10, having received troubling reports of continued violence against protesters by the gendarmerie. A gendarmerie is a military or paramilitary force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population.
“We’re receiving troubling reports of continued violence against protesters by the gendarmerie,” it said.
The ICIR reported that protesters in Madagascar have been protesting for the past few weeks on the streets despite President Andry Rajoelina dismissing his cabinet in an attempt to calm unrest that had already left 22 people dead and over 100 injured.
But a day earlier, police had fired tear gas and rubber bullets on thousands of demonstrators, part of the “Gen Z” movement against the government, ignited by anger against power and water shortages in the impoverished Indian Ocean island.
Media reports indicate that the latest UN appeal followed incidents in which at least six people were injured, and AFP reported seeing a man lying unconscious after being chased and brutally beaten by security forces, who deployed armoured vehicles to disperse the demonstrators.
Madagascar’s security forces announced on Friday that they had implemented “strict measures,” alleging that the protesters sought to “terrorise the population” and “encourage looting.”
According to the United Nations, on September 29, the demonstrations were met with a heavy police crackdown, leaving at least 22 people dead and over 100 injured, even though the government dismissed the figures as unverified and “based on rumours or misinformation”.
President Andry Rajoelina said on Wednesday that there were “12 confirmed deaths and all of these individuals were looters and vandals”.
Rajoelina has reinforced his stance by appointing a military officer as prime minister on October 6 and selecting the initial members of his new cabinet from the armed forces, public security, and police, declaring that the country “no longer needs disturbances.”
The ICIR reported that the police in Madagascar declared a dusk-to-dawn curfew after violent protests by Gen Z on Friday, September 26, sparked by recurring power outages and water shortages.
In Antananarivo, hundreds of mostly young protesters took to the streets, but the demonstration was forcefully broken up as police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowd.
Drawing inspiration from “Gen Z” protests in Indonesia and Nepal, the youth-driven movement is challenging entrenched misgovernance, driven by frustration over persistent water and power outages in the impoverished Indian Ocean nation.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.