The prefect of Martinique will issue a curfew order and ban demonstrations and gatherings throughout the island after recent urban violence.
Martinique heals its wounds on Thursday October 10 after a night of chaos marked by looting, fires and violence which left 26 police officers and gendarmes injured, pushing the prefect of the island to decree a curfew and the ban on demonstrations.
A man was also shot and killed in still undetermined circumstances: he was found injured by the gendarmes who were intervening against the looting of a shopping center and died in hospital, according to the Martinique prefecture.
Urban violence every night
The situation had calmed down in recent weeks but incidents broke out on Monday between the CRS and activists who were carrying out a blocking action against the high cost of living in Lamentin, near Fort-de-France. Since then, urban violence has been recorded again every night. As a result, the island’s prefect, Jean-Christophe Bouvier, will decree a curfew from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. on Thursday and a ban on gatherings and demonstrations throughout the territory, AFP learned from a prefectural source.
No less than 400 vehicles were burned.
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Twelve gendarmes were injured during the night from Wednesday to Thursday “including one by gunshot”, this prefectural source told AFP. A police source reports 14 CRS8 police officers slightly injured and six arrests.
Twelve gendarmes injured in Martinique after a night of riots against the cost of living
No fewer than 400 vehicles were burned, according to the same source, with a huge parking lot housing new cars imported into Martinique going up in smoke. The Minister for Overseas Territories, François-Noël Buffet, condemned the violence of the night in a press release and called for “responsibility and appeasement”.
“Because we broke the people’s wallet”
“He urges citizens to avoid any escalation of violence and to favor dialogue,” adds the press release while a fifth round table against the high cost of living began Thursday morning in the premises of the Territorial Collectivity of Martinique (CTM) with the different actors.
“This violence can be classified as self-defense.”
Rodrigo Petitot (President of the RPPRAC)
“The stores are broken because we broke the people’s wallet,” declared Rodrigue Petitot, president of the RPPRAC (Rally for the Protection of Afro-Caribbean Peoples and Resources), a movement at the forefront of the mobilization. “This violence can be classified as self-defense,” continued the man nicknamed “The R,” affirming that his movement had “always insisted that it be peaceful.” Since September, the Caribbean island has been marked by a movement against the high cost of living, a recurring theme in overseas territories, which has degenerated with urban violence.
With AFP
