The streets were largely deserted in Madagascar’s capital Friday as residents took stock of the damage from a day of violent protests over frequent power cuts and water shortages.
The protest in Antananarivo, led by hundreds of mostly young demonstrators, was met with a heavy police response, with rubber bullets and tear gas used to disperse the crowd.
The rampage continued after nightfall, prompting police to impose a dusk-to-dawn curfew after banks and stores were looted and set on fire. Three pro-government parliamentarians also had their homes torched.
READ ALSO: Madagascar Police Fire Teargas At Protesters Over Power, Water Cuts
A station of the city’s new cable car system — one of the government’s flagship infrastructure projects — was also set on fire.
Five protesters were killed in the violence, a hospital source said. AFP has not been able to verify the toll from official sources.
Stunned residents — some in tears — assessed the damage Friday morning, an AFP journalist at the scene saw.
One Gen Z activist, who had returned to clean up a looted bookstore from his childhood, claimed they had left the scene before the unrest escalated, but conceded that others might have been responsible for the destruction.
“Maybe they were frustrated. Maybe they were sent to break things. They’re already poor and have nothing. So they take what little they see,” he told AFP, requesting anonymity for fear of reprisals.
A police presence was limited to the city’s main central square unlike Thursday, when security forces patrolled the city to block demonstrators from gathering.
Traffic resumed in the city centre in the morning, though volumes remained below normal levels.
While the situation appeared calm downtown, reports of looting continued in a commercial district on the outskirts of Antananarivo.
The French embassy in Madagascar said it strongly advised avoiding non-essential travel in the capital and in Antsirabe, Madagascar’s third-largest city. The British embassy also called for caution, warning that “further protests and disorder are expected and may spread to other parts of Madagascar”.
Living conditions
Protesters have voiced anger over persistent water and power cuts, which often leave homes and businesses without electricity for over 12 hours each day across the country, one of the world’s poorest.
Some people accuse the government of President Andry Rajoelina of failing to improve living conditions.
Rajoelina, who is in New York this week for the UN General Assembly, condemned the violence and called for calm.
“Division and hatred are not the solution. Conflict leads to destruction and no one benefits from it except those who only look out for their own interests,” he posted on Facebook.
The 51-year-old was re-elected late last year for a third term in a ballot boycotted by the opposition in which less than half of registered voters took part.
He first came to power in the world’s top producer of vanilla in 2009, leading a popular movement and benefiting from a coup that ousted former president Marc Ravalomanana.
After not contesting the 2013 election due to international pressure, he was voted back into office in 2018.
[SRC] https://www.channelstv.com/2025/09/26/wreckage-strews-deserted-madagascar-capital-after-violent-protests/
