The endless demonstrations against the vaccination obligation, with their share of roadblocks and looting, which have shaken Guadeloupe for three months have nothing “spontaneous” according to the public prosecutor of Pointe-à-Pitre. Eight people were charged especially for “criminal associations”. They are suspected of having organized violence and of having set up a system of racketeering of companies established in Guadeloupe.
Among them are gang members of Baie-Mahault, Pointe-à-Pitre and Grand-Camp, who would have established a very organized strategy, in two stages. First, the young people sowed chaos, by provoking violence, fires, setting up roadblocks and looting. And then, in a second step, they would knock on the doors of companies, and ask them for money in exchange for their peace of mind.
The sums are “likely substantial”, according to the prosecutor, who does not give a precise figure. The large Guadeloupean shopping centers certainly paid and that would explain why they were not attacked.
Even more astonishing, a policeman is among the eight suspects. He is suspected of having had a role “active” in the violence and even to be at “the origin” of “many operations”. For example, investigators believe that he gave the suspects the positions of his fellow police officers during the interventions. A “treason” for the prosecutor Pointe-a-Pitre, Patrick Desjardins. He is also suspected of having helped to plan the fire of the Penitentiary Integration and Probation Service, or of having wanted to invade the runways of the airport.
For the prosecutor, the opposition to the obligation to vaccinate was a “opportunity” for the suspects to enrich themselves personally. En addition to blackmailing companies, they also aimed to put pressure on elected officials. The idea was to create associations of opponents of compulsory vaccination, in order to be able to claim public subsidies and therefore divert this money.
The suspects went far in their coverage: some of them participated in the negotiations to end the crisis with the deputy of the 1st district of Guadeloupe, Olivier Serva, the elected La République en Marche, who voted against the vaccine pass .
Victorin Lurel, socialist senator from Guadeloupe, is not “surprised” by these revelations because the State “let the gangs thrive”, said the former Minister of Overseas from 2012 to 2014 on franceinfo, Saturday.
️ “Planned” violence by mafia gangs in Guadeloupe: “There are too many complacent elected officials” denounces PS Senator Victorien Lurel pic.twitter.com/DPGFWWX6ZU
— franceinfo (@franceinfo) January 22, 2022