Madagascar's presidency said on 12 October 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 coup, urged fellow soldiers to disobey orders on Saturday and back the demonstrators.
The protests, initially over grassroots grievances, began on 25 September and now pose the most serious challenge to Rajoelina's rule since his reelection in 2023.
CAPSAT officers said on Sunday 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.
It said it was coordinating with the CAPSAT headquarters.
The defence ministry and the military general staff declined to comment.
A Reuters 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.
In a statement on its social media account, Rajoelina's office said "an attempted illegal and forcible seizure of power" was under way, adding that the president had urged "dialogue to resolve the crisis".
The protests, inspired by Gen Z-led movements in Kenya and Nepal, began over water and electricity shortages. They have since spread, with demonstrators calling for Rajoelina to step down, apologise for violence against protesters, and dissolve the Senate and electoral commission.
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