The prefect of Martinique assured, on Tuesday, September 24, that the order had been “restored” on the Caribbean island, after “an unprecedented wave of violence” outside of a mobilization against the high cost of living. “The security situation [à la] Martinique is fully recovered. The last two nights have been quiet.”Jean-Christophe Bouvier said during a press conference, reporting that only one dam had been installed during the night from Monday to Tuesday and “immediately lifted” by law enforcement.
A few hours after the press conference, a man was arrested at the entrance to the centre of Fort-de-France and taken into police custody, a police source told Agence France-Presse (AFP). Tear gas was also used.
A large police force was deployed near the prefecture on Tuesday morning, with gendarmerie trucks and riot barriers to prevent a convoy of trucks fighting against the high cost of living from entering the centre of the Martinique capital. At around 2.30 pm local time (8.30 pm in Paris), the truck drivers had dispersed in a concert of horns, but without disorder, and at around 5.30 pm local time (11 pm in Paris), the police had lifted the device, AFP journalists noted.
Thirty-four people arrested
“I wonder about the importance of the means deployed to maintain public order, in the face of a demonstration, at least, usual, in support of the mobilization against the high cost of living”wrote Didier Laguerre, mayor of Fort-de-France, in a press release, assuring that he had not been informed of the leak of “greater access to the city centre”. “It is not certain that all the roads in Fort-de-France and the city centre will be able to support these weights”Some trucks weigh more than 40 tonnes, the prefect had argued earlier.
Apart from the protests against the high cost of living that began in early September, urban violence has also affected the island. A partial curfew, imposed on September 18 in certain districts of Fort-de-France and in the neighbouring commune of Lamentin, was extended on Monday until Thursday morning and extended to the district of Sainte-Thérèse, the epicentre of the violence.
The extension of the curfew should also allow the police “make the necessary arrests” wanted persons, the prefect said. “Since the beginning of the crisis, thirty-three people have been arrested”“Bouvier said before a new arrest on Tuesday, according to a police source. The prefect spoke of forty-four vehicles burned in just a few days, fifty-nine shops vandalised and eleven police officers and gendarmes injured. Three civilians were also injured, one of them by gunshot.
“We fired at a police car, three metres away, and the bullet grazed the driver’s head. We have, by a miracle, avoided an absolute tragedy.”the prefect stated. “It is a real strategy of chaos that we have witnessed and an unprecedented increase in violence”He stressed, justifying the arrival of reinforcements from law enforcement forces for “saturate the territory”.
In addition, the prefect reiterated his desire to organize a new round table on the issue of the cost of living for “Continue the work started three weeks ago with all interested parties” on topics of interest “priority to Martinicans”.
