My one -month -old grandson was killed by police tear gas

The Razanasoa Edmondine still looks shocked by shells as he remembers the death of his one -month -old grandson, killed by police tear gas in protests that have shaken Madagascar in the last two weeks.

“It was just a normal Friday. My daughter -in -law was going to the market with the baby as they came across demonstrators on the road,” she told the BBC at the home of the family in the northern suburbs of the capital Antananarivo.

“Not long after, police appeared and began to spread the tear gas protest.”

It was the second day of protests led by young people caused by anger because of the constant shortage of power and water, and Mrs. Edmondin’s daughter-in-law encountered a nearby building with other protesters to cover up.

The police then fired more tears in the building, quickly filling it with suffocating smoke.

With the streets in chaos, they could not reach the hospital until the next day. Until then, the damage was inflicted.

“The baby was trying to cry, but no sound appeared,” says G -Edmondin.

“It was as if something was blocking his chest. The doctor told us that he had inhaled too much smoke. He died a few days later.”

Her granddaughter is one of at least 22 people who claimed to have been killed during clashes between police and demonstrators in the first days of protests, which have since escalated in broader dissatisfaction with corruption, high unemployment and the crisis of life in one of the poorest nations in the world.

The government of President Andren Raoelina rejected this figure as misinformation but did not provide its number.

However, he stressed that the value of property damage exceeds $ 47 million (£ 35 million). The first days of the protests were marked by widespread violence, with cars, set on fire, shops of shops, broken and two -month, multimillion -dollar car station, vandalized.

Rabe, who only gave his name to the BBC, accused the police of dismissing live bullets in peaceful protesters several blocks from where Mrs. Edmadin’s daughter-in-law was hiding.

As police released tear gas, the panic spread quickly and people fled in every direction, looking for shelter in every open building, but he says his 20-year-old autistic son did not understand what was happening.

“He must have slipped out to see what was going on. Then the police shot him and continued to chase other protesters.”

He believes his son was shot from the front, as the bullet left a large open wound in his back – the likely output wound.

“I don’t know much, but as far as I know, when someone raises their hands, it means that they have not stolen anything, they have not vandalized anything,” Rabe says. “He was just there to see what was happening.”

In response to accusations of police brutality, President Rajolina said earlier this week: “There was death, we are completely agreed. And I really sympathize with the suffering and pain of families who have lost loved ones.

“But I want to tell you that these deaths are not protesters, they are not students. They are riots. They are the ones who have looted.”

Some business owners say prolonged protests have violated business and have entered their income, especially for those in the city center around the University of Antananarivo, where the protests were organized.

“I fully support Gen Z, but I don’t think the protests are the right way to deal with their complaints. When people demonstrate, I can’t do business,” says Laza Brenda, who runs Kiosk to repair mobile phones.

For the entrepreneur Ulrichia Rabefitana, uncertainty has ignited several of her international clients who have canceled training contracts and events in seminars.

“We had to postpone a big event, including more than 2000 people who were preparing for more than six months. This was to be held this week. It was very challenging for us to delay everything and lose that money,” says G -Ja Rabefitava.

The tourism sector of the Indian Ocean Island, which is known for its unique wildlife, is one of the most severe blows to the situation that surprises most people.

“We have received nothing but cancellation. Usually the period from mid-September and October is the busiest period for us,” says Francois van Rens of the Radisson Hotel group.

“We usually work about 60, 70% employment, but now we have dropped to 10%. So it’s like a full throttle and suddenly the parking brake.”

The anger of the youth movement behind the demonstrations, known as the Gen. Mada, is growing with protesters who are now urging the president to withdraw.

The evidence of young people’s dissatisfaction, whether it is unemployment, water shortage or struggling business, is not difficult to find in Antananarivo.

At the airport, for example, visitors with only a few bags are quickly surrounded by two or three young people who want to help in exchange for a small advice.

Anyone who leaves his car parked outside a cafe or restaurant will almost certainly turn to several young men who want a fee after claiming they have “guarded” the vehicle.

On the road, a young woman selling sweet donuts tells the BBC that she earns $ 2.30 a week, money he relies on to feed her four -year -old child.

“I am allowed to do business at this place during the weekends, because during the week someone else uses it for their own business,” she says as she spins the dough in boiling oil.

Moving through the outskirts of Antananarivo, it is customary to see families to wash their clothes in unfit fields, a visible reminder of the strong shortage of water in people’s homes.

One of the main organizers of a protest who demanded anonymity for safety reasons and is organized to meet us near the rice fields, he told the BBC that he had to move a mile every day to get water from the well-and he considers himself the middle class.

“To be a young man in Madagascar, you have to be difficult,” he adds, explaining that uncertainty is complete.

“You live in a constant fear of when your house will be broken when you will be shot by people when you will be stabbed on the streets. It is as if your humanity has been stolen by you and takes away.”

It requires “radical changes” to cope with the island’s chronic socio-economic challenges.

According to Herri Ramiason, a professor of economics at the University of Antananarivo, this is the result of decades of poor economic planning and the failure of the government to create an inclusive wealth.

“There is a huge problem of employment among young people,” he explains.

“It stems from very low levels of education in the workforce, serious disadvantages in the education system, both in quantity and in quality, widespread school dropouts and almost total absence of opportunities for training adapted for them.”

The academic finds that after 64 years of independence, three quarters of the population have a level of education under the primary school, while only 3% have achieved higher education.

President Raoelina asked the Malagasius people to give him a year to remedy the problems moving the protests, saying that he would resign if he failed to comply with the deadline.

But Prof. Ramiangson believes that the president does not understand the complexity of how Madagascar trapped in two vicious poverty circles that feed on each other.

One is guided by weak economic growth, the other stems from political instability, which discourages investment and growth and pushes people more deeply in poverty, nourishing social unrest.

“In order to get rid of the poverty trap, it is essential to first violate the main vicious circle by turning to its root causes – namely the key determinants of economic growth,” he says.

Madagascar survived multiple political turmoil after winning independence from France, including the mass protests in 2009, which removed then President Mark Ravalomanan, the once popular milk tycoon.

This was what Rajiolina’s rise, a former DJ, and then the mayor of Antananarivo, who took power in the consequences.

From his roadside telephone shop, Branda says, “Once they are in power, they forget us. It’s always the same.”