Ambohitsirohitra ! This February 7 will remain one of those dates that would have never existed. A national tragedy. A horror. A deliberate massacre. I apologize if my comments are less guarded than usual, but the circumstances are: faced with the horror, there is no opinion that counts, but simply human feelings. We present our condolences to the families Victims of the demonstrators. I'll try here to tell you what I saw and heard with the greatest accuracy possible, consistent with the purpose of this blog testify.
WARNING: SOME PHOTOS MAY STRIKE THE SPIRITS.
It began like this:
At the end of the speech of Mr Roindefo Monja (appointed prime minister of the transitional government), the crowd chanted the name of the palace of Ambohitsirohitra . Mr Roindefo asked the crowd if they wanted to go to the palace. The enthusiastic crowd responded favorably. It was decided that the demonstrators were follow the car of elected and appointed prime minister to go up to the prime minister.
Cars officials.
Protestors take the shortcut down the stairs Analakely. 
Arrive Antananirenina. Dams policies stand in the streets to the palace. 
service order demonstrators brings order to avoid overflow.
forces Font not really at ease. 
First discussions. 
The car with the sound arrives. They try to calm the crowd. People say things like "the police are our friends ...." 
The official delegation wants to meet with officials of the Presidential Guard that guards the palace for talks. 
Under the pressure of the crowd, the police back. The service order of demonstrators made its best.
The Palace of Ambohitsirohitra , minutes before the massacre, a view of the wire which acts as a "red zone". For information, a "red zone" in Madagascar, is an official demarcation beyond which the army has the right to shoot.
The delegation to the meeting head of the presidential guard. Observe well the red and white just under an old table upside down: that is the limit of the red zone. 
The military tells us, very angry that "... I warn you, beyond this limit, I no longer responding to anything ... (he speaks with the media present) 
The delegation by a refusal of the presidential guard. General Dolin particular is very disappointed. It was intended to do a sit with demonstrators outside the palace, while officials (Prime Minister and delegation were taking possession of the palace) . The crowd overwhelmed the forces order. She moves towards the palace.
The arrival of the wire to the red zone. The shots were immediate, without somatic nor tear-grenade. The shots with weapons of war are direct and not through the air. The protesters are mainly affected between the head and thigh. Shots fed plastered. I throw myself on the floor behind a low wall about forty feet high. People are running in all directions. When the shooting stopped, I released people lying on me and see: an empty place, demonstrators near the bottom. Bodies without life.
This woman, about 45 years old, crawls on the ground at the edge of the red zone, alone. Luck is with her: she is apparently not affected. 
A protester who was dragged next to me shot in the buttock. 
The lifeless body on the street. Thousands of pairs of shoes or hats scattered. 
Risking their lives, demonstrators will help the injured.
AND still dead ... 
A bullet in the head. 
A journalist, a cameraman for ATN, a local TV. 
A child of ten years hit in the leg. 
After that and a second set of shots, while the demonstrators were trying to retrieve the dead and wounded, and that journalists were doing their work among the dead, we had to dig in all the hotel Colbert welcomed all the Malagasy and foreign journalists.
shooters behind the wall of the palace.
The next morning Antananirenina. The military had taken control of the square.
These highly condemnable acts of barbarism are clear: a crowd of unarmed demonstrators, not even a stick, people of all ages and social groups ... have wanted to go to the palace of Ambohitsirohitra . When they arrived at the cord of the red zone, the Presidential Guard forces have shot without somatic with weapons of war. The majority of the dead and wounded were reached at the height of the trunk and head.
I saw no mercenaries on the scene.
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