Madagascar police fired teargas and rubber bullets Thursday to break up hundreds of protesters in the capital Antananarivo who were demonstrating against repeated water and electricity outages.

The Indian Ocean island is one of the poorest countries on the globe despite vast natural resources.

A heavy police presence patrolled the capital from early morning after authorities banned the demonstration the day before.

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But the protesters defied the order and tried to break through a police barricade to reach their planned meeting point in the Ambohijatovo district in central Antananarivo.

They waved banners reading “Let us make our rights heard”, “Stop a life of yellow jerrycans and darkness”, and “We don’t want trouble, we just want our rights”.

Shortly before 11:00 am (0800 GMT), hooded anti-riot police in white 4x4s sped through the streets and fired tear gas to disperse the crowd, an AFP journalist at the scene saw.

At least three demonstrators were arrested.

The protest, mobilised largely on social media, drew mostly young demonstrators, and no political figures were seen among the crowd.

Madagascar is renowned for its endemic biodiversity, but 75 percent of its estimated 30 million population lived below the poverty line in 2022, according to the World Bank.