Radio France International (RFI) reports that seven months to the presidential election, the government of Madagascar has banned public protests. It is beginimg to be a cause of concern about the repression of the opposition.
Monday, French radio RFI reported that the interior minister said on state television that political protests would not be authorized. They would not be held in public but might be allowed in “an enclosed place” in order to maintain calm.
The announcement was made on Friday. The previous day, RFI reported that the offices of La Gazette de la Grande had been searched after the arrest of the paper’s owner, Lola Rasoamaharo.
According to RFI, Rasoamaharo has been charged with defamation and extortion.
Crackdowns on dissent on the 29 million-person island nation, including the demonstration ban and the arrest of Rasoamaharo. They have been cited by government opponents in advance of the first round of presidential elections in November.
President Andry Rajoelina’s candidacy for reelection is highly predicted.
Former government minister and leader of the opposition Madagascar MMM party, Hajo Andrianainarivelo, said, “Today we are going towards dictatorship.”
In 2022, the annual Reporters Without Borders survey on press freedom ranked Madagascar 98th out of 180 countries.
Hundreds demonstrated in the city of Antananarivo over rising costs and a deteriorating economy, resulting to the imprisonment of two opposition leaders.
In the southeast of the country, an albino child was stolen, and weeks later, 18 people were killed as police opened fire on a lynch mob.
