Behind the staging of a sham dialogue, President Andry Rajoelina has opted for a methodical crackdown on young people who have defied him in the streets to demand decent living conditions.
On Thursday, October 9 − the 15th day of the movement launched by Gen Z − a man in his 30s nearly lost his life after being beaten with batons by law enforcement in Anosibe, a neighborhood in southern Antananarivo. Without the intervention of the Malagasy Red Cross, which took charge of him around 5 pm, he likely would have died.
A video posted on social media shows five gendarmes chasing him, cornering him in an alley, beating him, then dragging him several meters before leaving him out on the street. Stripped of his T-shirt, barefoot and wearing only jean shorts, he was taken to HJRA Hospital but escaped before doctors could ask his name – likely out of fear that law enforcement would pursue him even inside the facility.
"More and more injured protesters are refusing to seek care at public hospitals. We will remind people on our Facebook page that they can remain anonymous during our interventions," said Dr. Edison Heremana, coordinator for the Malagasy Red Cross.
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