Demonstrations in Antananarivo turn deadly

One person was killed during demonstrations in Madagascar’s capital of Antananarivo yesterday amid warnings that the Indian Ocean island was on the brink of civil war.

Reporting from Madagascar, France 24 correspondent Cyril Vanier said one man was killed Wednesday afternoon when the army fired into a group of pro-government demonstrators who had gathered outside government buildings in Antananarivo.

“The army fired several warning shots in the air, but I can confirm they shot at least once into the crowd because when I got there moments after the first warning shots were fired, a man lay dead on the ground. He had taken a bullet to the chest. The people around him had the same story: that he was shot by the army,” said Vanier.