Dozens killed in latest Madagascar protest

Security forces in Madagascar fired on a crowd of protesters outside a presidential palace in the capital over the weekend, with several reports saying that more than 25 people had been killed. The violence was another deadly episode in a struggle for power between President Marc Ravalomanana and Andry Rajoelina, the elected mayor of Antananarivo, the capital. A week ago, Rajoelina declared that he was taking over the government of Madagascar, an island nation of 20 million. Rajoelina, a 34-year-old former disc jockey and entertainment impresario, has held almost daily rallies along Antananarivo's main boulevard, lambasting Ravalomanana as a millionaire dictator more interested in his own business empire than the needs of Madagascar's impoverished citizenry. On Saturday, with thousands attending his latest protest, Rajoelina announced that Roindefo Monja, a politician from the southwestern city of Tulear, would be the prime minister of his "transitional government." The protest Saturday started at a square in the center of Antananarivo where Rajoelina regularly addresses supporters and thousands of demonstrators then headed toward the presidential palace, The Associated Press reported. The news agency reported Sunday that 25 people had died and that 167 had been wounded, citing Lala Rakotonirina, chief of communications for the national police, who said the toll was based on reports from the main hospital. Rakotonirina said other victims may have been taken to private clinics after the violence. Vivo radio, which is owned by Rajoelina, said the death toll was "about 50," though most accounts put the figure at 20 to 30. The number of wounded was variously estimated at 80 to 300. Within hours, Ravalomanana and Rajoelina each appeared on television and traded accusations. The president expressed his condolences to the families of the dead and appealed for calm. He also blamed Rajoelina for inciting the crowd and ordering them into peril. Rajoelina, on the other hand, said that only a callous dictator would order soldiers to fire on the masses, including children. "The people were not armed," he said. "They had only their courage." On Jan. 26, at the conclusion of a similar rally, protesters rampaged through the streets of the capital, setting fire to factories and stores belonging to Ravalomanana. The president's television station was also attacked, presumably in retaliation for the government's having closed one belonging to Rajoelina. About 100 people in Antananarivo and elsewhere died during those disturbances, but then the situation seemed to quiet, even after Rajoelina declared he was ruling the country, even after Ravalomanana reasserted his authority by announcing that he had fired his rival as mayor.