Days of rioting against measures set in place to curb the spread of Covid-19 have brought France's overseas territory of Guadeloupe to a standstill, with barricades in the streets, trashed shops and pharmacies, and lessons at schools cancelled.
Over the weekend police arrested 38 people after violators of a dusk-to-dawn curfew (6:00 pm to 5:00 am) looted and torched shops and pharmacies, leaving two security force officers injured, according to AFP. Rioters are believed to have stolen rifles after breaking into an arms depot in the island’s coastal capital, Pointe-à-Pitre.
“We just don’t know how far this will still go,” the city’s mayor, Harry Durimel, was cited as telling FranceInfo radio.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin warned that there were still “scenes of extreme violence with police forces being shot at with real ammunition."
French President Emmanuel Macron described the situation in Guadeloupe as “very explosive”, expressing his full solidarity with local authorities and cautioning people against falling for the “lies and manipulation” of what he described as a “very small minority”. “You cannot use the health of the French people to drive political battles… Public order must be maintained,” Macron said during a visit to Amiens in northern France.
Caribbean Mayhem
Paris has sent around 200 elite police and counter-terrorism officers to Guadeloupe over the weekend in an effort to quell the violence, which erupted across the Caribbean archipelago after an announcement that coronavirus vaccinations would be mandatory for all healthcare workers. What began with demonstrations spiralled into mayhem; shops were trashed and looted and there were clashes with local police.
Furthermore, a general strike entered into a second week on Monday, with trade unions starting strike actions on the neighbouring French Caribbean island of Martinique as well and prompting fears the violence on Guadeloupe could spread.
Anti-vaccine demonstrations also express "the depth of suffering, inequality, poverty and exclusion felt by the people, notably youths and the elderly," the secretary general of the island’s biggest union, the UGTG, Maite Hubert M'Toumo was cited as saying.
The decision to make jabs mandatory had been prompted by the fact that vaccination rates in France's overseas territories, in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and the Pacific, have overall been lower than those on the mainland, where it is close to 75 percent of the population. Only 40.3% of adults on Guadeloupe have had the vaccine, according to government figures. Furthermore, the Caribbean has been hit by a new wave of coronavirus infections, prompting lockdowns and flight cancellations. Guadeloupe has reported a total of 54,854 Covid cases and 822 deaths attributed to the virus.
Although police reinforcements had begun dismantling protesters' road barricades upon their arrival, "the situation remains uncertain concerning road traffic and the possibility of staff and students moving smoothly and safely seems compromised at this stage", local authorities said in a statement.
Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Monday that a forum for dialogue was being established to help healthcare professionals concerned by the coronavirus vaccine requirements. Government spokesman Gabriel Attal referred to the situation as "intolerable and unacceptable" and vowed measures against those who were seen as intimidating health workers.
As the island’s doctors’ union condemned “those individuals who want to prevent patients from accessing care or caregivers accessing their place of work”, French Overseas Minister Sebastien Lecornu said he and other members of the government would go to Guadeloupe to examine the situation.