(Pointe-à-Pitre, Martinique) The violence continued in the French West Indies during the night from Friday to Saturday, despite a gesture from Paris towards unvaccinated caregivers, the crisis opening the sensitive institutional debate of greater autonomy of the island of Guadeloupe.
The police again came under fire in Guadeloupe in the night from Friday to Saturday, without causing injuries, according to the prefecture.
The neighboring prefecture of the island of Martinique has recorded “events of particular intensity in Schœlcher and Fort-de-France (destruction of a service station as well as that of a post office)”. And “four gendarmes were injured, especially in the face, by lead shots,” said the prosecution of Fort-de-France.
“Individuals entered the municipal police of Fort-de-France and stole bulletproof vests […] and we fear the worst now ”, worried Jimmy Hellénis, of the police union Unit SGP Police FO.
PHOTO RICARDO ARDUENGO, REUTERS
Aerial view of a dam installed on a road in Lamentin, Guadeloupe.
Twelve arrests took place in Martinique and four in Guadeloupe, according to the prefectures.
The two islands, shaken by a revolt against the compulsory vaccination of caregivers since November 16 in Guadeloupe and since 22 in Martinique, remain under curfew.
The movement took an explosive turn, violence, looting, fires and barricades, crystallizing other social demands, in particular on the cost of living, in these islands with high unemployment and poverty.
The government agreed on Friday to defer the vaccine obligation to December 31, without convincing.
Saturday in Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe, 2,000 to 3,000 people demonstrated from the university hospital to again demand the total lifting of the vaccination obligation for caregivers and firefighters.
The government has also proposed the lifting of the suspension of unvaccinated staff and their remuneration for those who accept “personal support”, particularly with a view to reclassification.
Then, in a televised address to Guadeloupe, Overseas Minister Sébastien Lecornu indicated that the government was “ready” to talk about greater autonomy, a question asked according to him by local elected officials.
“According to them, Guadeloupe could better manage itself,” said the minister. “The government is ready to talk about it […], as long as these debates serve to resolve the real problems ”of Guadeloupe, he said, immediately criticized by the opposition.
On the right and the far right, we denounced a retreat or a drop, even an attempt to “buy the radical separatists”, according to the far-right presidential candidate of 2022, Marine Le Pen.
On the far left, Jean-Luc Mélenchon (La France insoumise) judged the response of French President Emmanuel Macron to be “astounding” and called on not to speak of status until “when the time comes”, the resolution of the “social and health emergency. Being a priority according to him.