By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The United Nations (UN) has urged Madagascar authorities to refrain from applying what it called “unnecessary” force against protesters, a call that comes a day after clashes between the police and the youth-dominated protesters in the capital, where deadly unrest has continued in the last two weeks.
“We’re receiving troubling reports of continued violence against protesters by the gendarmerie,” the UN’s human rights office said in a post on social media Friday.
UN rights chief Volker Turk “renews his call on security forces to desist from unnecessary force and uphold the rights to free association and peaceful assembly,” it said.
According to AFP report, the Indian Ocean island’s capital, Antananarivo was calm on Friday, but parts of the city are still cordoned off by security forces.
On Thursday, police had fired tear gas and rubber bullets on thousands of demonstrators, part of the “Gen Z” movement inspired by anti-government demonstrations in Kenya and Morocco.
The protests were sparked by anger against epileptic power supply and water shortages in the impoverished African nation.
Six people were reported injured while local media reports that a man was left unconscious on the ground after he was chased and severely beaten by security forces. They also used armoured vehicles to disperse crowds of protesters.
Madagascar’s security forces on Friday said they had taken “strict measures” as they claimed the protesters aimed to “terrorise the population” and “incite looting”.
Conflict monitoring group ACLED in a report said the month of September saw the second highest level of protests in Madagascar since it began collecting data in 1997, surpassed only by a surge before the 2023 vote.
The United Nations said on September 29 that at least 22 people had been killed in the first days of protests.
President Andry Rajoelina’s administration has faulted the figure, saying on Wednesday that there were “12 confirmed deaths and all of these individuals were looters and vandals”.
Twenty-eight protesters have been referred to the prosecutor’s office for formal charges, their lawyers said on Wednesday.
