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Protesters issue president 24-hour ultimatum to ‘respond favourably’ to demands, threatening ‘all necessary measures’.

Madagascan President Andry Rajoelina has ignored calls for his resignation by a nationwide youth-led protest movement, condemning what he perceives to be a coup plot driven by rivals.

Protesters took to the streets of the capital, Antananarivo, on Friday after a “strategic” pause in the near-daily demonstrations led by a movement known as “Gen Z”, which has demanded the president’s resignation over his alleged failure to deliver basic services, including water and electricity.

At least 22 people have been killed since the protests started on September 25, according to the United Nations. On Friday, police fired tear gas to disperse marchers in the capital, footage from Real TV Madagasikara showed.

“No one benefits from the destruction of the nation. I am here, I stand here ready to listen, ready to extend a helping hand and … to bring solutions to Madagascar,” Rajoelina said in a speech broadcast on his Facebook page.

He said, without providing evidence, that some politicians were plotting to take advantage of the protests and had considered staging a coup while he was addressing the United Nations in New York last week.

“What I want to tell you is that some people want to destroy our country,” he said, without naming those he alleged were behind the move.

The Gen Z movement rejected Rajoelina’s speech as “senseless”, promising to take “all necessary measures” if the president did not “respond favourably” within 24 hours to its demands.

There were also protests in the northern coastal city of Mahajanga and in the southern cities of Toliara and Fianarantsoa.

‘Opportunistic groups’

Madagascar is rich in resources yet remains one of the world’s poorest countries, with 75 percent of its population of 32 million living below the poverty line in 2022, according to the World Bank.

The recent unrest forced Rajoelina to sack his government on Monday and invite dialogue. In a post on his X account at the end of the week, he said he had also met various groups for the past three days to discuss the situation.

Madagascar’s Foreign Minister Rasata Rafaravavitafika said the country faced “a massive cyberattack” and a “targeted digital manipulation campaign” launched from another country.

“According to analyses by our specialised units, this operation was initially directed from abroad by an agency with advanced technological capabilities,” she said.

She claimed that “opportunistic groups” had “infiltrated” the protests and aimed to “exploit the vulnerability of some of Madagascar’s young people”.

Rajoelina, the former mayor of Antananarivo, first came to power in 2009 following a coup sparked by an uprising that deposed former President Marc Ravalomanana.

After sitting out the 2013 election under international pressure, he was voted back into office in 2018 and re-elected in 2023.

Opposition party dismisses possibility of talks as President Aleksandar Vucic urges debate after nine months of angry protests.

Serbia’s populist president has called for dialogue with antigovernment protesters in the Balkan country following more than nine months of demonstrations that have challenged his rule.

“Serbia has to solve its problems with democratic dialogue, not with violence,” President Aleksandar Vucic wrote in a post accompanied by a video that he shared on Instagram on Friday.

“I invite the representatives of the blockade movement to a conversation and a public debate about visions, to discuss our plans and programmes for the future and all together condemn the violence on our streets,” he added.

In the video address from his office in Belgrade, Vucic said he was ready to speak with the representatives of students and other antigovernment protesters, including in TV debates.

“I propose … discussion and debate on all our televisions, on all our [internet] portals with legitimate representatives, that is, those they choose,” Vucic said.

The months of protests across Serbia were prompted by the deaths of 16 people when a roof on a renovated railway station in Novi Sad collapsed last November.

Protesters have blamed corruption for the station disaster and are demanding early elections in the hope of ousting Vucic and his party.

They also accuse the government of using violence against political rivals and suppressing media freedoms. The government denies all the allegations.

The protests were mainly peaceful until earlier this month, when dozens of police officers and civilians were injured in clashes, and hundreds were detained.

‘You don’t make a fire department with an arsonist’

“I want us to confront visions … to solve that through dialogue and conversation … no conflict, no violence. To rebuild the country again, to get it back on track where it was nine months ago,” Vucic said.

Savo Manojlovic, the head of the centrist opposition Move-Change party, dismissed the possibility of talks.

“A president who resorts to violence is not someone with whom you can debate about political issues, this is a … corrupt government that tramples on … democracy and human rights,” Manojlovic said.

“You don’t make a fire department with an arsonist.”

Vucic’s second and final five-year presidential term ends in 2027, when parliamentary elections are also due.

Representatives of the students said they would debate with Vucic only during an election campaign.

“He [Vucic] has no answer to the popular rebellion … We will debate … during the campaign, after the elections are announced,” students from the Belgrade-based Faculty of Philosophy said in a statement.

July 9 (UPI) — Canadian authorities have arrested four men, including active military members, on accusations of forming an anti-government militia that sought to seize land in Quebec City.

No information about motive or ideology was released by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police when it announced the arrests in a statement Tuesday.

Three of the suspects — Marc-Aurele Chabot, 24, Simon Angers-Audet, 24, and Raphael Lagace — are accused of taking “concerte actions to facilitate terrorist activity,” a charge punishable with up to 14 years in prison.

According to the RCMP, Chabot, Angers-Audet and Lagace have been accused of planning to create an anti-government militia, for which they participated in military-style training, including shooting, ambush, survival and navigation exercises, involving firearms, some of which are banned.

A fourth suspect, Matthew Forbes, 33, faces a slew of charges, including possession of firearms, prohibited devices and explosives and related offenses.

All four men are from the province of Quebec.

The arrests follow searches conducted in Quebec City in January 2024 that uncovered 16 explosive devices, 11,000 rounds of ammunition, nearly 130 magazines and 83 firearms and accessories. Four pairs of night vision goggles and other military equipment were also seized.

Images released by the RCMP include a screenshot of an Instagram account that Canadian authorities said one of the suspect’s alleged used to recruit new members. Other released photos included several displaying the large cache of firearms seized and one of the men in tactical gear appearing to be undergoing training.

The Canadian Armed Forces confirmed in a statement that two active military members were among the four arrested and charged.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Camille Habel told CBC News that their investigation into the men dates back to the spring of 2023, but that the militant group dates back to at least 2021.

Without going into specifics concerning what the group’s intention was with the Quebec City land they intended to seize, Habel said, “in that ideology in general, quite often we would see a desire to create a new society, a desire to live by different values and wanting to change or create some kind of chaos so that they could take over society to created it and live it the way that they want.”

She added that they know more than just the four people arrested are interested in this unspecified ideology, which, she said, “is an issue in Canada right now.”

“It is not a case that will fix the problem,” she said. “It is really a societal problem.”

Kenyan police fired tear gas to disperse protesters marking one year since the deadly 2024 anti-government protests, when at least 60 people were killed and demonstrators stormed parliament over tax hikes and alleged state corruption.