Was it a gunshot wound? A flash shot from the CRS? From a motorcycle fall, perhaps? In Martinique, the rumor continued to grow on Monday, October 7 on social networks. For long hours, only one thing seemed certain: Rodrigue Petitot, the leader of the collective that launched the 1Ahem September, a protest movement against the high cost of living on this island in the Antilles, was injured in the morning during a police intervention during a demonstration.
“We confirm that our president, Rodrigue Petitot, known as “the R”, was chased and wounded in the hand and leg”stated this group, the Demonstration for the Protection of Afro-Caribbean Peoples and Resources (RPPRAC), in a press release, avoiding the cause of these injuries. The group, very present on social networks, also denounced “the repression intended to suffocate this legitimate popular movement”.
It finally emerged during the day that the RPPRAC leader had been injured while climbing a fence to escape the police. Petitot was admitted to the emergency room of the Martinique university hospital center. For its part, the prefecture of Martinique reported eleven police officers injured by “Dangerous jets of projectiles”and five arrests during this operation. The following night, four mobile gendarmes were slightly injured by gunfire during urban violence, according to state services.
“Political UFO”
The events of the day before were still widely commented on Tuesday. “I pray for them”confesses Gladys, 39, in the parking lot of a hypermarket in Lamentin. This mother of two children placed a red cloth ribbon on the antenna of her vehicle, as a sign of joining the cause. Like many Martinicans, the thirty-year-old follows the news of the movement on TikTok. “I look at them every day.he said fervently. I learned a lot from them. »
In the evening light, a man waits, alone in his vehicle, at the entrance to the parking lot of the Pierre-Aliker stadium in Fort-de-France, in front of the shelter that the RPPRAC has since converted into its headquarters. the beginning of the protest movement: a meeting of the collective is planned, but probably without its leaders, who have announced their intention to temporarily withdraw “retired” After this difficult day. “I am totally behind “the R”enthuses Steeve, 43, a team leader at an industrial company. “He says things that make sense and he doesn’t even get paid for it.”this father of two children emphasizes with admiration.
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