Paralyzed since Saturday, November 17 by the movement of yellow vests, the island of Reunion is facing a surge of violence. The question of purchasing power is largely out of date. Reunion had not experienced such tension since 1991.
Cars burned, shops burned, motorists racketed and stoned: the night was again enamelled incidents on the island of Reunion. The crisis is part of the movement of yellow vests, which, as everywhere in France, protested Saturday, November 17 against the rise in fuel prices and the decline in purchasing power. This Tuesday, November 20, early afternoon, 37 roadblocks are still active on the roads of the island.
This outbreak of violence prompted the prefect, Amaury de Saint-Quentin, to introduce this Tuesday, November 20 a partial curfew on half of the municipalities of the island. Until Friday, November 23 at least, it will be prohibited to circulate between 9 pm and 6 pm, "a strong measure, unprecedented" and "adapted to this threat," according to the prefect. Meanwhile, all schools, nurseries at the university, as well as local governments are closed on Tuesday. The closure of schools is renewed Wednesday, November 21.
The Prefect of Reunion has decided to renew the closure of nurseries, schools (kindergarten, primary, middle and high schools) public and private under contract for the day of Wednesday, November 21, 2018> https://t.co/FNpTN0TOif pic .twitter.com / X4z3KaFdsQ
- Prefect of Reunion (@ Prefet974) November 20, 2018Almost all cultural and sporting events are canceled. Roland-Garros International Airport closed at 18:00 local (15:00 in Paris) until Wednesday morning forcing airlines to review their schedules or cancel flights. According to the prefecture, there were a dozen arrests and five policemen were wounded. Reinforcements of mobile gendarmes arrived Monday of Mayotte. Others are still awaited, without the prefecture specifying the number.
"It's anything"
This growling, initially peaceful, quickly degenerated when gangs of young people began to organize blockages on several major axes and claiming motorists a right of passage ranging from 5 to 20 €. For refusing to pay, several motorists were attacked and stripped, their cars stuck.
"These children (young Creole Reunion) have nothing to do with our movement. They rack up people who are asking the state for an increase in their purchasing power. It's nothing , " insists Jean-Jacques, a fifty-year-old unemployed building employee for two years who participated on Saturday in a dam filtering " yellow vests " in the Port (west).
Marie Andrée, a young mother of two, shares the same exasperation. "These young people discredit the 17 November movement. In addition, they burn garbage cans, private cars themselves disadvantaged, " she is moved in front of a vandalized supermarket in Moufia, a district of Saint-Denis.
Since Saturday, dozens of vehicles have been burned in several cities. Most garbage cans were burned. About fifteen businesses were looted and sometimes burned by rioters, sometimes as young as 14 years old.
"It was run in advance"
"Of course we can not condone violence. But we must also ask the right questions. In some families, grandparents, parents, older brothers and sisters have never worked. Many are in school failure. All live on social minima. That 12-year-old kids from these families are on the roadblocks, it was run in advance, " said a union representative.
"The feeling of being abandoned"
"And then we must never forget these figures: 28% of the active population is unemployed and 42% of the population lives below the poverty line," he adds. According to Laurent, 23, a master of English and job search, "it is a reflection on the deep bad life of Reunion should be conducted. We would see that the movement of yellow vests and rioters have the same source: the feeling of being abandoned, "he insists.
Reunion had not experienced such tension since 1991 and riots caused by the seizure by the State of the pirate transmitter of Tele Free Dom. At the time, eight people were killed in the fire of a furniture store being looted and a young motorist was killed after losing control of his car after a stall.