journalists targeted by gunfire in Fort-de-France

Four journalists, including an AFP photographer, were shot on the night of Thursday 25 to Friday 26 November in a district of Fort-de-France while they were covering nighttime urban violence in Martinique. Journalists suffered three shots in a deserted street due to the strict curfew decreed Thursday evening. Men on two motorcycles shot at journalists who were filming and taking pictures from a distance from a burning roadblock.

General strike in Martinique: an RMC team targeted by gunfire pic.twitter.com/XBe2ES5kUN

– RMC (@RMCinfo) November 26, 2021

AFP photographer Loïc Venance, two journalists from BFMTV / RMC Sport, Maureen Lehoux and Julien Taureau, and a photojournalist from Abaca Press, Raphaël Lafargue were not injured and had just enough time to get on board from their vehicle and to leave the scene in a hurry. The helmeted individuals did not follow them.

“We got out of the car to film the dam from afar. We were near the Levassor canal, very close to the marina, a rather quiet place these last days. We were alone. I saw two motorcycles stop. I shouted: ‘Damn there are motorcycles!’ “ said Loïc Venance. The journalists had heard that armed men on motorcycles came to provoke the police during the nightly violence.

“As we got into the car, there was a first shot. Then two more shots before we left.”, detailed Julien Taureau. “We had been touring the city for an hour and a half to testify to the violence. We met a lot of police officers who were telling us to come back. They were super tense. We said to ourselves: ‘It’s super calm, c ‘is not normal’ “, reported the AFP photographer.

Martinique has been plagued by nighttime urban violence since the call for a general strike launched Monday by the inter-union, to protest in particular against the vaccine obligation. Several police officers have been the targets of gunfire since Monday, slightly injuring many of them.