There were rival rallies on Saturday in Madagascar\u2019s capital, Antananarivo, after days of deadly youth-led protests.<\/p>\n
What began as anger over shortages of basic services has escalated into one of the most serious challenges facing President Andry Rajoelina.<\/p>\n
Pro-government activists gathered in their thousands in the city centre saying they did not want a coup, they just wanted work.<\/p>\n
“We have water, we have electricity, it works very well. But let my children go to school,” said one pro-Rajoelina supporter.<\/p>\n
The atmosphere among the anti-government Gen Z activists was completely different. They attempted to converge in the centre of the capital but were prevented by a heavy police presence.<\/p>\n
For days, they have been trying in vain to reach Democracy Square, which was completely empty on Saturday and cordoned off by the police.<\/p>\n
A Gen Z activist said it was unfair that pro-Rajoelina were allowed to hold demonstrations but they were forbidden from taking to the streets in peaceful protest.<\/p>\n
“As you can see here, there are no soldiers, no police, nothing at all. That is not democracy,\u201d said student and Gen Z protester, Malick Sulleyman, standing at a pro-government march.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it\u2019s Rajoelina\u2019s turn to gather people, there is no problem at all, but when it\u2019s us – there are many problems. We get tear gas, they shoot real bullets at us,” he said.<\/p>\n
The United Nations says at least 22 people have been killed and hundreds injured in the protests, a toll the government has dismissed.<\/p>\n
As police waited on the streets of the capital on Saturday, Gen Z protesters advanced with their hands raised in the air.<\/p>\n
They were trying to convince the security forces to let them pass, but their pleas were met with raised shields.<\/p>\n
One protester asked the police why the people did not have the right to speak out.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you gagging us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
“We can\u2019t take the dictatorship anymore. The Malagasy people are suffering. The voice of the people must be heard, because the people are suffering.”<\/p>\n
In response to the ongoing protests, Rajoelina on Monday sacked his government and called for dialogue to restore order.<\/p>\n
Rejecting calls to resign, he described the protests as an attempted coup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There were rival rallies on Saturday in Madagascar\u2019s capital, Antananarivo, after days of deadly youth-led protests. What began as anger over shortages of basic services has escalated into one of the most serious challenges facing President Andry Rajoelina. Pro-government activists gathered in their thousands in the city centre saying they did not want a coup, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":18088,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":2,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","source_name":"Africa News + Agencies","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,2362,33],"tags":[1402,1597,1086],"class_list":["post-18087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-africa","category-featured","category-politics","tag-andry-rajoelina","tag-antananarivo","tag-madagascar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}