New violence in Guadeloupe, police and firefighters targeted by shots in Martinique – archyde

The curfew was extended until November 28 in Guadeloupe where the violence continued on Tuesday. In Paris, the government insists on the return of order but must now monitor a possible contagion in neighboring Martinique where police and firefighters were targeted by shots in the night.

If the fifth night of violence in Guadeloupe was quieter than the previous ones, according to the prefecture, it was however marked by live ammunition against the police, denounced the Interior Ministers Gérald Darmanin and from Overseas Sébastien Lecornu.

A sign that the tension remains high, the prefect of Guadeloupe has decided to extend the curfew from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m., the application of which expired on Tuesday, until Saturday, November 28.

Gérald Darmanin made the restoration of public order “the prerequisite for any discussion of course”.

But the fire is also smoldering in Martinique, where a general strike began on Monday. Roads are blocked by numerous roadblocks, forcing schools to close and public transport to stop functioning.

As this week in Guadeloupe, the police and firefighters there “received projectiles”, and “9mm shots on several occasions” in the night from Monday to Tuesday, without causing any injuries, according to sources policewomen. The Fort-de-France prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into these facts.

The protest movement against compulsory vaccination against Covid-19 for nursing staff and firefighters was launched on November 15 in Guadeloupe, with a call for a general strike by a collective of trade union and citizen organizations who are also calling for the rise in wages and social minimums and fall in fuel and gas prices.

The scars of the week of protest are still visible, as in Le Gosier, where the carcasses of charred cars, debris and the remains of barricades obstruct the main road that crosses the city.

In the city center, most shops are closed, with the exception of a few food shops, the pharmacy or a bank.

“The city has been dead since the start of the mobilization,” Nadège Tommely, 38, who runs a grocery store, told AFP.

– “They take us for illiterates” –

To calm the situation, Jean Castex announced Monday the creation of a “forum for dialogue” in order to “convince and support individually, humanly”, professionals concerned by the vaccination obligation.

A decision that did not convince in Guadeloupe.

“Of course we continue the mobilization. We did not expect much from Castex and the Macron government, so we are not disappointed,” said Hilaire Luce, member of the collective who called for the general strike, on a dam made of trees and burnt tires near Le Gosier.

“They show a marked contempt: they create a listening authority, that means that they take us for illiterates?”, He is indignant.

“More than 90 arrests” and “more than 60 police custody” have taken place since the start of the crisis, said the Minister of the Interior, while 250 police and gendarmes, including 50 from the GIGN and the Raid, have were sent as reinforcements over the weekend and a curfew was put in place from 11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m.

Of the 30 people who went to immediate appearance on Monday, 26 were sentenced to sentences ranging from a simple fine to 2 years in prison for “active participation in the looting of a business”, said the Pointe-à- prosecutor’s office. Clown in a press release.

Seven people will be tried in immediate appearance Tuesday and a 34-year-old man “suspected of having actively participated in the acts of break-in and meeting” in several jewelry stores will be presented before an investigating judge, according to the prosecution.

– “Provocation” –

According to Sébastien Lecornu, the violence is committed by people “already unfavorably known to the police or the courts”, and “who are using this crisis to express themselves in violence”.

“We can see that we are not on a health and social issue,” assured the minister, criticized by some opponents, especially on the right, for not having gone there.

The LFI presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon also denounced the sending of the GIGN and the RAID on the spot, “an absolutely useless provocation”.

“The health pass and the vaccination obligation should not be a pretext for a global political and ideological challenge”, declared the PS presidential candidate Anne Hidalgo while saying she was aware “of the expectations” of Guadeloupeans who “aspire to more equality, social justice, future prospects for their youth “.

bur-etr / jk / dlm