Fourteen people were killed and 28 wounded in Madagascar today when gendarmes opened fire on angry residents over a shadowy kidnapping case, a local source and a medic who spoke to AFP said.
“The gendarmes opened fire on the crowd,” said Jean Brunel Razafinchiandraofa, a member of parliament for the eastern region of Ikongo, where the incident took place.
“Nine people were killed on the spot,” said Tango Oscar Toli, chief physician of the local hospital. And out of 33 injured people who were admitted in the morning, five ended up in the hospital,” he adds.
Around 8 am, shots were heard in Ikongo. Since last week, the small town has been in a state of shock: an albino child has gone missing and the authorities suspect a kidnapping.
On the large Indian Ocean island, people with albinism are often targeted for violence. More than 12 abductions, attacks and killings have been recorded in the past two years, according to the UN.
Four suspects were arrested by the gendarmes. But the residents are determined to bring justice themselves.
In the morning they went in front of the gendarmerie barracks and asked the gendarmerie to hand over the four suspects to them, according to the deputy.
According to a gendarmerie source who spoke to AFP, at least 500 people arrived, some carrying “bladed weapons” and “machetes”.
“There were negotiations, the villagers insisted,” the source said. The gendarmes then decided to throw smoke bombs to disperse the crowd and fired a few shots into the air.
But the residents continued to try to breach the passage to enter the barracks. We had no choice but to defend ourselves…” said the same source.
Madagascar’s police force, often criticized by civil society for human rights abuses, rarely sees its members prosecuted.
SOURCE: APE-ME
Source: Capital
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