2009 — Madagascar's Black Saturday

On February 7, 2009, Madagascar's presidential guard opened fire on thousands of unarmed opposition protesters marching on the palace in Antananarivo. At least 31 people were killed in the deadliest single day of the crisis that had gripped the island.

The massacre broke the army's neutrality, removing the last buffer between the rival camps. Weeks later, 34-year-old Andry Rajoelina became one of the world's youngest heads of state. Black Saturday is remembered as the day the crisis turned bloody beyond repair, when troops fired on their own citizens and the old order fell with the fallen. The palace they marched on became the place they died before.