Madagascar

Tens of thousands of opposition supporters protested against the president in Madagascar's capital Jan. 28, two days after an earlier rally descended into violence that killed nearly 40 people. Witnesses in Antananarivo's main square, May 13 Plaza, estimated the crowd as at least 40,000 strong. Armed police were watching, but unlike the chaos and looting after Monday's opposition demonstration, the mood was calm. Antananarivo mayor Andry Rajoelina, a 34-year-old firebrand politician who calls the president a dictator, has been spearheading protests since the government shut his private radio and television station in December. (Reuters)