Authorities in Madagascar on Thursday imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in the capital, after protests over frequent power outages and water shortages turned violent.

The demonstrators were denouncing the government and demanding restoration of reliable water and electricity across the country.

Police fired teargas to disperse the thousands of mostly youth protesters who were marching and carrying placards, in Antananarivo, the capital, according to a Reuters witness.

Madagascar, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, is mired in poverty, and some people blame the government of President Andry Rajoelina, who was re-elected in 2023, for not improving conditions.

Local media reports that during the protests earlier on Thursday, a large shopping mall in the capital was looted and then burned, and the homes of two lawmakers were looted and vandalised.

The protesters, who defied an earlier police ban on the demonstration, marched while chanting, “We need water, we need electricity.”

After the protests were dispersed, they later spread into various neighbourhoods of the capital.