ANTANANARIVO: Madagascar’s presidency said on Sunday that an attempt to grab power by force was under way as more soldiers threw their support behind a youth-led protest movement that has rocked the African island nation for more than two weeks.

Troops from the elite CAPSAT unit, which helped President Andry Rajoelina seize power in a 2009, urged fellow soldiers to disobey orders on Saturday and back the demonstrators. The protests, initially over grassroots grievances, began on September 25 and now pose the most serious challenge to Rajoelina’s rule since his reelection in 2023.

CAPSAT officers said they had command over the country’s security operations and would coordinate all branches of the military from their base on the outskirts of the capital, Antananarivo. They said they had appointed General Demosthene Pikulas, the former head of the military academy, as army chief.

A unit of the paramilitary gendarmerie, which had so far tackled the protests together with the police, also broke ranks with the government on Sunday. “All use of force and any improper behaviour towards our fellow citizens are prohibited, as the gendarmerie is a force meant to protect people and not to defend the interests of a few individuals,” the Intervention Forces of the National Gendarmerie said in a statement broadcast on Real TV.

It said it was coordinating with the CAPSAT headquarters. The defence ministry and the military general staff declined to comment.

A witness saw three people injured after shots were fired along a road to the CAPSAT barracks on Sunday. However, there was no sign of ongoing clashes.

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2025