The day after the coup by a group of officers led by Michaël Randrianirina on Tuesday, October 14, young Gen Z protesters, who had spent nearly three weeks occupying the streets of Madagascar’s capital, said they had screamed with joy upon hearing that President Andry Rajoelina, on the run since Sunday, had been overthrown. The military takeover brought an end to the protests and the crackdown that had left around 20 dead since September 25. But it was also the result of a misunderstanding, or even a trap, designed to lend the protesters’ legitimacy to the putsch.

On Wednesday, the team behind Gen Z Madagascar’s strategy gathered in a nondescript room on the first floor of a small building in central Antananarivo. Independence Square, where the marches had converged in previous days, was close by. Across the street, a small wine bar for tourists stood empty. Laptops were open. Whispering filled the room. Brand new T-shirts were passed around, emblazoned with the symbol of Gen Z uprisings worldwide: the pirate flag from the manga One Piece, but reimagined with a Malagasy straw hat. “It’s the first time we can wear them without fear,” said Marie Christina Kolo, one of the movement’s leaders.

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