Authorities in Madagascar announced a night-time curfew in the capital, Antananarivo, on Thursday after demonstrations over recurring power cuts and water shortages escalated into violence, a senior security official said.
Police fired teargas to disperse the thousands of mostly youth protesters who were marching and carrying placards in the capital, according to a witness.
The demonstrators were denouncing the government and demanding restoration of reliable water and electricity across the country.
“There are unfortunately individuals taking advantage of the situation to destroy other people’s property,” General Angelo Ravelonarivo, who heads a joint security body that includes the police and the military, said in a statement he read on privately owned Real TV late on Thursday.
To protect “the population and their belongings,” the security forces decided to impose a curfew from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. “until public order is restored,” the statement said.
Madagascar, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, is mired in poverty, and some people blame the government of President Andry Rajoelina, who was re-elected in 2023, for not improving conditions.
Violent Protests
During the protests earlier on Thursday, a large shopping mall in the capital was looted and then burned, and the homes of two lawmakers were looted and vandalised, according to the witness.
The protesters, who defied an earlier police ban on the demonstration, marched while chanting, “We need water, we need electricity.”
The unrest peaked when protestors looted and set fire to a large shopping mall, and vandalized the homes of two lawmakers. Security forces deployed tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.
After the protests were dispersed, they later spread into various neighbourhoods of the capital.
A security forces spokesperson, Zafisambatra Ravoavy, could not be reached for comment.
On Wednesday, the national police chief, Jean Herbert Andriantahiana Rakotomalala, warned that security forces would “take firm preventive…measures against those tempted to break the law.”
(With inputs from Reuters)
