February 7, 2009

Madagascar protest turns deadly

Per Reuters, as many as 25 people were killed by security forces outside the presidential palace in Antananarivo, Madagascar, in an anti-government protest on Saturday. Some 125 people have died in civil unrest in the nation the last two weeks.

Within the last hour, @ariniaina provided an update from the capital city after listening to President Marc Ravalomanana speak on radio.

@ariniaina (Antananarivo): Ravalomanana ordered the force army to restore peace, declared he's sad for the deaths. He also asked the collaboration of the population.

She live chronicled the events as they were happening from the Palace of Ambohitsirohitra, though it is not clear if she was at the scene or relying on reports.

@ariniaina: TGV Protest: A truck pull of military officers are coming to Ambohitsirohitra (6 hours ago)

@ariniaina: TGV Protest: The Police invited the journalists to stay away from the place reported a journalist from Radio antsiva (5 hours ago)

@ariniaina: TGV Protest: Militaries are prepared to fire if needed (5 hours ago)

@ariniaina: Militaries shot (5 hours ago)

@ariniaina: TGV Protest: The shooting goes on. Till now 20 death and 200 injuries are registered. (3 hours ago)

Others also provided updates from the city, including @thierry_ratsiz, who texted based on what he was hearing through local media.

@thierry_ratsiz (Antananarivo): #madagascar Des corps gisent par terre...beaucoup de blesses (Bodies lying on the floor ... many wounded)


One man monitoring "Madagascar" tweets was not happy with what he saw.

@tandriamirado (Antananarivo): ALL: PLEASE STOP talking about Madagascar THE MOVIE, there's very serious things happening in Madagascar now. PLEASE!

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