Police in Madagascar open fire on a crowd seeking revenge for abduction of albino child

At least 19 people were killed by police in a town in Madagascar, who opened fire on what they claim was a lynch mob angered at the kidnapping of an albino child.

A mob of angry people armed with knives and machetes stormed the police station in the town of Ikongo, 350 kilometres from the capital Antananarivo, where four people were being held, suspected of having kidnapped an albino child last week.

Albinism, caused by a lack of melanin, the pigment that colours skin, hair and eyes, is a genetic condition that affects hundreds of thousands of people across the globe, particularly in Africa.

In some countries like Madagascar, people with albinism are attacked and often mutilated, as some witchcraft practices mistakenly believe they bring luck and wealth.

• Malawians with albinism recount nightmare lives of poverty and constant assaults

Police shooting
Police in Ikongo arrested the four kidnapping suspects and put them in detention, but residents of the town wanted revenge, and stormed the station, demanding the four people be released into their hands.

About 500 people "tried to force their way" in on Monday, a police officer involved in the shooting told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Police first fired teargas and then rounds in the air to try to disperse the crowd. When that failed, they had “no choice” but to open fire.

A local doctor said 34 people were wounded, some of them now in critical condition, and were awaiting helicopter transport to the capital for treatment.

The national police confirmed the "very sad event". The shooting “could have been avoided, but it happened”, national police chief Andry Rakotondrazaka told a news conference, adding that police were provoked.

Human rights
Police in Madagascar are regularly accused of violating human rights, though they are rarely prosecuted.

The officers involved in the shooting left Ikongo and fled to neighbouring towns.

One of the four suspects being held at the station was recaptured Tuesday morning by the family of the kidnapped child. The other three are still missing.

Jean Brunelle Razafintsiandraofa, who represents Ikongo district, said he would ask for a parliamentary investigation into the incident.

"We must know who are those responsible for each entity," he told RFI. "Who fired first?"

Over the last two years, over a dozen abductions, attacks and murders have been reported in various parts of Madagascar, according to the United Nations.