Violence continues in Guadeloupe, despite reinforcements from the police. They are now monitoring a possible contagion in neighboring Martinique, where police and firefighters were also shot at overnight.
The curfew was extended until November 28 in Guadeloupe, so the violence continued on Tuesday, November 23. In Paris, the Government insists on the restoration of order, but now it must monitor a possible contagion in neighboring Martinique.
The fifth night of violence in Guadalupe was quieter than the previous ones, according to the prefecture. However, the Ministers of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, and the Minister of Overseas, Sébastien Lecornu, denounced that she was marked by live ammunition against the police. A sign that the tension is still high.
“The situation is still very difficult” in Guadeloupe, Darmanin admitted. “The truth is that the restoration of public order is the prerequisite for any discussion,” he added.
But the fire is also burning in Martinique, where a general strike began on Monday. Roads are blocked, forcing schools to close and public transport to stop working.
This week in Guadeloupe, police and firefighters “received projectiles” and “9mm shots on various occasions” during the night from Monday to Tuesday, although there were no injuries. This was announced by the Fort-de-France department of public security.
The protest movement against the mandatory vaccination against Covid-19 for nursing personnel and firefighters was launched on November 15 in Guadeloupe, with a call for a general strike by a collective of union and citizen organizations. These congregations are also demanding higher wages and social minimums and lower fuel and gas prices.
The scars of the week of protest are still visible, as in Le Gosier, where the corpses of charred cars, debris and the remains of barricades obstruct the main road through the city.
In the city center, most of the shops are closed, except for some grocery stores, the pharmacy or a bank.
“The city has been dead since the start of the mobilization, not much is happening,” Nadège Tommely, 38, who owns a grocery store, told AFP.
In addition, the prefecture reports a death, but without directly linking it to the ongoing protest movement. At the moment “there is no element on the cause of death” of this “young man”, according to Xavier Sicot, prosecutor of the Republic of Basse-Terre.
Protesters reject the “dialogue forum” proposed by the Macron government
To calm the situation, the Prime Minister of France, Jean Castex, announced this Monday the creation of a “dialogue forum” in order to “convince and support individually, humanely”, professionals affected by the vaccination obligation.
A decision that did not convince in Guadeloupe where the unions behind the mobilization regretted not being associated with the initiative.
“Of course we continue the mobilization. We did not expect much from Castex or the Macron government, so we are not disappointed” with the outcome of yesterday’s meeting, says Hilaire Luce, a member of the collective that called for a general strike in Le Gosier.
“They show marked contempt: they create an instance of listening, does that mean that they take us for illiterates?” He questioned indignantly.
Dispatch of 250 policemen and gendarmes, including 50 members of the GIGN and RAID
“More than 90 arrests” and “more than 60 police arrests” have taken place since the beginning of the crisis, said the Interior Minister, while 250 policemen and gendarmes, including 50 from the GIGN (Intervention Group of the National Gendarmerie) and the RAID (an elite unit of the French police), have been sent as reinforcements over the weekend and a curfew was established from 11pm to 5am.
LFI presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon criticized sending the GIGN and RAID to the field, saying it was “an absolutely unnecessary provocation”.
According to Sébastien Lecornu, violence is committed by people “already unfavorably known to the police or the courts”, and “who are using this crisis to express themselves with violence.” “We can see that we are not facing a social or health issue,” he insisted.
The day before, President Emmanuel Macron had denounced those who use “the health of French women and men to fight political battles.”
Like other right-wing elected officials, Senate President Gérard Larcher asked Mr. Lecornu to go to the scene “because it is he who represents the executive in the overseas territories.” However, Mr. Lecornu indicated that he did not intend to go there immediately so as not to “present a particularly significant overload for the police”, who are already on the ground.
This article was adapted from the French version.
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