Rodrigue Petitot, a figure in the movement against the high cost of living, was arrested after an altercation with the prefect of Martinique, Jean-Christophe Bouvier.
Figure of the movement against the high cost of living in Martinique, Rodrigue Petitot, at the head of the Rally for the Protection of Afro-Caribbean Peoples and Resources (RPPRAC), was arrested this Tuesday evening in Fort-de-France, we learned AFP from the prosecution.
Rodrigue Petitot, known as “the R”, was placed in police custody at the central police station of the capital of the island following a complaint for home invasion and acts of intimidation against people practicing a public function, according to the same source.
Monday evening, Rodrigue Petitot entered the prefectural residence in the upscale Didier district of Fort-de-France with three other people. An intrusion whose aim was to obtain an interview with the Minister of Overseas Territories, François-Noël Buffet, currently visiting Martinique.
It was the prefect of Martinique, Jean-Christophe Bouvier, who physically opposed the entry of the president of the RPPRAC into the residence.
The attitude of the collective's leaders was “unacceptable, unimaginable, intolerable”, said Jean-Christophe Bouvier.
“We are waiting for the R to be released. I fear this evening a new night of disturbances which will be the responsibility of the prefect and the minister,” reacted Tuesday evening the secretary of the RPPRAC, Aude Goussard, at the microphone of local radio RCI.
Tensions in front of the Fort-de-France police station
After the announcement of Rodrigue Petitot's arrest, around a hundred people gathered in front of the Fort-de-France police station to demand his release, an AFP journalist noted on Tuesday around 8:30 p.m.
The gendarmes, placed in protection around the police station, came under fire from grenades, mortars and firearms. Three of them were injured in the clashes, AFP learned from a source close to the matter.
According to the Martinique Transport Authority, a flaming roadblock was erected on Avenue Maurice Bishop in the Sainte-Thérèse district where Rodrigue Petitot claimed to reside. The authority has suspended public transport in the center of the island.
Arriving Monday evening in Martinique for a four-day visit, François-Noël Buffet said he was “willing to meet everyone” on the island, including the leaders of the RPPRAC, returning Monday to the department after a stay of ten days in Paris to organize demonstrations.
Since September, Martinique has been affected by a movement against the high cost of living which degenerated with urban riots and violence, mainly at night, during which, according to figures from the prefecture, more than 230 vehicles were deliberately burned and dozens of premises businesses were burned, vandalized or looted.
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