Antananarivo (Agenzia Fides) – There are 8 wounded and 17 arrested, after fighting broke out on September 26 in front of the Mahamasina Stadium in downtown Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar.
“The most seriously wounded was a woman struck by bullets fired by police forces, however it does not seem she is in danger of death,” a journalist from Don Bosco Radio told Agenzia Fides. “The chaos broke out when demonstrators tried to enter the stadium, even though authorities had prohibited it.”
The three movements which oppose the High Authority of Transition presided by Andry Rajoelina, which are led by former Presidents Marc Ravalomanana, Didier Rastsiraka, and Albert Zefy, asked that city authorities grant them permission to use the stadium as a political meeting. The city denied the permission, granting them instead and free of charge (the stadium had to be paid), the “Coliséum d'Antsonjombe.” “This structure, in addition to being free, can hold more people than the stadium: 80,000 versus 40,000. It was here that in 1989, John Paul II presided a Mass during his visit to Madagascar,” Fides sources explained.
“The authorities denied the authorization for two reasons: one, because it had already been reserved for another rally and two, because the Mayor's offices are located under the stands. This is due to the fact that the City Hall was destroyed in 1975, during another political crisis. Since then, the official city offices have been situated temporarily in various city structures, including the stadium. Only a short while ago did they begin construction on the new City Hall,” our sources said.
The failed speech in the UN General Assembly, a result of pressures from the Southern African Development Community, have caused great upheaval in the country. Prime Minister Monja Roindefo announced that he would send a protest note to the UN's General Secretary.
“On the one hand, there are supporters of the transition regime that say that the UN's refusal to allow Rajoelina to talk, after inviting him to New York, is an offense to all the people of Madagascar, but there are also opponents of Rajoelina who try to hide their own satisfaction, as they consider the President of the High Authority of Transition a 'usurper,'” the journalist from Don Bosco Radio said. “Among the supporters of the Transition, there are those who are calling for Madagascar to leave the SADC, as a result of the pressures they placed on the UN to stop Rajoelina's speech. These have not returned to Madagascar, as they are in Paris, where it seems they met with former President Ratsiraka, who has been living for some time in exile in the French capital...”
The SADC supports the claims made by former President Marc Ravalomanana, who resigned in March after a struggle with Rajoelina, then opposition party leader, and under the pressures of a military intervention. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 28/9/2009)