SECURITY forces in Madagascar fired tear gas on opposition candidates leading a protest in the capital Antananarivo on Monday, amid rising political tensions ahead of presidential elections next month.
Eleven of the 13 presidential candidates in the running had called on supporters to demonstrate against what they have described as an “institutional coup” to favour incumbent Andry Rajoelina.
Some of them, including former president Marc Ravalomanana, locked arms on Monday morning as they headed a march of a few hundred people towards the central May 13 square.
But law enforcement and army officers, who were deployed in the hundreds ahead of the unsanctioned rally, moved to disperse the crowd before it reached the planned destination.
“They are crazy! What the soldiers are doing is dangerous,” Ravalomanana said, after he was led away to safety by his security detail inside the car park of a tennis club in the capital as teargas was fired.
At least two people were arrested and eight wounded, including six police officers and one presidential candidate, according to police spokesman Tojo Raoilijon.
“Things like that happen,” Raoilijon said of the injured candidate, adding some demonstrators pelted security forces with stones.
Voters in Madagascar, one of the poorest countries in the world despite vast natural resources, head to the polls to elect a president on November 9.
Rajoelina, 49, resigned last month in line with the constitution in order to run for re-election.
The president of the Senate was supposed to take over but declined for “personal reasons”, leaving the task to a “collegial government” headed by Prime Minister Christian Ntsay, an ally of Rajoelina.
