Seoul Gazette - New youth-led protests in Madagascar despite government's dismissal

Inspired by "Gen Z" protests in Indonesia and Nepal, the youth-led movement has taken aim at ingrained misgovernance, fuelled by anger over repeated water and power cuts across the poor Indian Ocean nation.

Rajoelina fired his entire government Monday, apologised for his ministers' inaction and vowed to find a solution to the country's problems.

But it was not enough to put paid to protests, with hundreds turning up Tuesday for a fresh rally in the capital following calls on social media.

The sacking "was a small victory," said 30-year-old activist Masova, using a pseudonym for fear of reprisals.

"We really want change, the rule of law, justice for all. That's why it's no longer just a Gen Z movement," she told AFP.

Police were deployed in and around the city centre. At one roadblock, they fired teargas to scatter a small crowd that had begun to gather, AFP journalists saw.

Minimal activity resumed in the outskirts, with streets filled with schoolchildren and people pulling carts, though traffic remained light.

Protesters have demanded that Rajoelina, who first came to power in 2009 following a coup sparked by an uprising, resigns.

"They call us the TikTok generation, a generation of idiots, and when we rise up, they won't even let us speak," a student protester said Monday, dressed in black in line with a call on social media to mourn those killed.

"Mr Andry Rajoelina, when you led protests, you were allowed to, it was fine. But when we young people rise to fight for our country, you try to silence us," she said.

Previous demonstrations have been met with a heavy police response, with at least 22 people killed and more than 100 injured, according to the UN.

Some of the victims were protesters or bystanders killed by the police or the security forces, according to the office of the UN's human rights chief, who condemned the use of live ammunition.

The government has rejected the tally as unverified and "based on rumours or misinformation".

- 'Corrupt system' -

Protests first started in the capital Antananarivo Thursday before spreading to other cities across the country of nearly 32 million people, according to World Bank data.

Last week's protests in Antananarivo were followed by widespread looting throughout the night, prompting authorities to declare a dusk-to-dawn curfew.

Rajoelina, a former mayor of Antananarivo, came to power on the back of a coup that ousted former president Marc Ravalomanana.

After not contesting the 2013 election due to international pressure, the 51-year-old leader was voted back into office in 2018.

On Monday, he invited applications for a new premier over the next three days before a new government is formed.

"The president is part of a corrupt system," said a 30-year-old agricultural engineer, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "He is trying to make us believe that something will change."

The current unrest is the latest to hit Madagascar since the end of French rule.

Philibert Tsiranana, who led the country through the post-independence era, was forced to hand over power to the army in 1972, after a popular uprising was bloodily suppressed.

Madagascar ranks among the world's poorest countries but is the leading producer of vanilla, one of the most expensive spices after saffron, and has natural resources in farming, forestry, fishing and minerals.

Nearly 75 percent of the population lived below the poverty line in 2022, according to the World Bank.

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Q.Min--SG