The fed up continues in Martinique, where part of the population mobilizes against the high cost of living since the beginning of September. On the sidelines of the mobilization, urban violence does not stopdespite the establishment of a curfew from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Burning barricades were erected and stores burned or looted.
“We are at three deaths”Clarisse Taron, the public prosecutor in Martinique, told France Inter this Friday. “Last night we had two bikers, perhaps part of the demonstrators, killed in a traffic accident while they were taking the ring road in the wrong direction. Not to mention another murder”she detailed. The prosecutor specifies that the victim of the homicide is a 20-year-old man shot and killed in the town of Robert on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, very close to a vandalized store. The hypothesis of a shooting by the security forces is not favored at this stage by the prosecution. The author is not identified.
According to the prosecutor, there is a “worsening” of the situation on the island compared to the start of the movement. The unrest began in the Sainte-Thérèse district of Fort de France but there is now a “reaching the entire territory“, said the prosecutor.
“The island is sacked”
“The island is ransacked, there is looting, there is damage“, described Clarisse Taron. According to her, “500 cars” were burned during the night from Wednesday to Thursday and “probably more than 100 cars burned” in that of Thursday to Friday. “We are once again in a very difficult period.”
The prosecutor counts “probably close to 100 new procedures”specifying that “there are procedures directly linked to the demonstrations”but also “delinquency of opportunity and windfall“, committed by ““convicts who take advantage of the unrest to burglarize.” “Last night alone, we received close to 50 police custody proceedings“, she said.
Ban on gatherings until Monday
The prefecture of Martinique announced banning demonstrations and gatherings on the island until Monday. Already closed Thursday, schools remained closed on Friday “given the uncertainty of the current social context and as a precautionary principle“, according to the rectorate. The Martinique University Hospital announced Thursday the launch of a white plan during which “deprogramming of surgical procedures or consultations are organized”. Pharmacies on the island said “no longer able to provide emergency service“.
Fort-de-France airport reopened on Friday morning, after having had to close the day before, due to the intrusion on the runways of around a hundred demonstrators.
In a press release, the association of mayors of Martinique and that of mayors of France called “calm and dialogue (…) in the face of the escalation of urban violence“.
The mobilization against the high cost of living was launched at the beginning of September by a movement called Rally for the Protection of Afro-Caribbean Peoples and Resources (RPPRAC), which demands an alignment of the prices of food products in France, displayed 40% more expensive in Martinique. Several round tables bringing together state services, local authorities, economic players and the RPPRAC have been organized, without positive outcomes so far. The next one is scheduled for Friday at 3 p.m. (9 p.m. in Paris).
