Police shot tear gas at protesters in the center of the capital Antananarivo, where some 10,000 clashed Tuesday with police, although life had mostly returned to normal in the rest of the city by later that afternoon, according to AFP journalists on the ground.

A crowd of several thousand marched in the northern city of Antsiranana, demanding the president's resignation, a local source told AFP, while several hundred gathered in Toliara, in the south.

Rajoelina on Wednesday evening organized a meeting at the presidential palace with foreign diplomats, spokesperson Lova Ranoromaro told AFP.

Ranoromaro added that the protesters had dispersed "without a clear leader emerging... to allow for a structured exchange" of views.

Near daily protests over misgovernance and water and power cuts began in Antananarivo last Thursday and spread to other cities across the Indian Ocean nation of almost 32 million people.

Despite Rajoelina having sacked his government on Monday in a bid to placate the unrest, anger has been intensified by a heavy crackdown on protesters. 

At least 22 have died and more than a hundred have been injured in the unrest, according to the UN.

The government has rejected the tally as unverified and "based on rumors or misinformation".

"The dismissal of the government is not enough for us," a spokesperson for the "Gen Z" movement leading the protests told AFP on Tuesday, adding further demands are the president's resignation and "the cleaning up of the National Assembly."

Another anonymous demonstrator told AFP that "living conditions of the Malagasy people are deteriorating and getting worse every day".

Rajoelina "has been in power for 16 years, but nothing has changed" in a poverty-stricken society, he said.

Rajoelina, 51, first came to power in 2009 following a coup sparked by an uprising, which ousted former president Marc Ravalomanana.

After not contesting the 2013 election under international pressure, Rajoelina was voted back into office in 2018 and re-elected in 2023 in contested polls boycotted by the opposition.

Initially silent, the opposition endorsed the movement through a rare joint statement Wednesday, with opposition leader Siteny Randrianasoloniaiko and former president Ravalomanana among the signatories.

More than 200 local NGOs meanwhile Wednesday made a joint appeal for an "immediate end to all forms of repression" and for the "respect of the right to protest." 

On social media, the Gen Z movement earlier called for the dissolution of the Senate, the Constitutional Court and the electoral commission, as well as for businessman Mamy Ravatomanga, reportedly Rajoelina's main financial backer, to be put on trial.

"Trade unions from the public sector are called to join a general strike," the movement said without giving a date for the proposed labor action.

The national water and electricity distribution company, JIRAMA, and the main labor inspectors' union had already announced they would go on strike.

Social media meanwhile highlighted images of a young boy with a facial injury, with Antananarivo's main hospital indicating that "the government has provided free treatment for the boy injured" during the protests. The hospital posted an image of the child, head bandaged, undergoing medical scans.

Political scientist and human rights activist Ketakandriana Rafitoson said the protests risked dragging on and intensifying if authorities rely on force to suppress dissent instead of prioritizing accountability.

"That outcome risks political fragmentation, stronger nationalist rhetoric against perceived external interference, and possible economic fallout as investors and donors withdraw or condition support," the member of Transparency International Madagascar told AFP.

Pope Leon XIV on Wednesday said he was "saddened by the news coming from Madagascar" and called for "the promotion of justice and the common good".

Five of the main civil society organizations also called for Catholic Church-led talks to "prevent Madagascar from sinking into chaos or civil war".

Madagascar ranks among the world's poorest countries but is the leading producer of vanilla and has natural resources in farming, forestry, fishing and minerals.