Tensions continue in Martinique over the protest against the high cost of living. Four gendarmes were slightly injured on Wednesday, October 8, in the town of Carbet (north) during clashes with protesters, according to a prefectural source.
“Four gendarmes were slightly injured” while they were carrying out an operation to lift barricades in this town, this source stated. A municipal building that served as an outpost for the new mobile territorial brigade based in the city was also completely burned.
Police and protesters have been clashing since 6 a.m. on Wednesday at a roadblock installed in the town of Carbet, on the RN2, the main axis linking the northwest of Martinique and the center of the island. “The individuals refused to lift the blockade despite the mayor’s warnings and intervention. “Several hundred vehicles had to turn around.”stated the same prefectural source, specifying that “The soldiers used force to release the axes”.
A round table scheduled for Thursday
The protesters had installed this dam as part of a “dead island” operation, denouncing in particular “The violence carried out by [les policiers de la] CRS 8 ».
Several snail operations were carried out on the island’s roads before converging on the city center of Fort-de-France shortly before noon, an Agence France-Presse journalist noted.
A movement against the high cost of living, a recurring theme in the French Antilles, was launched in early September by the Rally for the Protection of Afro-Caribbean Peoples and Resources (RPPRAC), which demands an alignment with France of the Prices of food products that are 40% more expensive in Martinique.
Aside from this movement, the island was shaken by urban violence that led the prefecture to establish a night curfew, now lifted, in certain districts of Fort-de-France and in the neighboring commune of Lamentin.
The authorities have organized four round tables since the beginning of the crisis, without a satisfactory result for the protesters. A fifth is planned for Thursday in order to “present the action plan” authorities, the prefecture announced.
