An interministerial crisis unit chaired by the interior ministers, Gerald Darmanin, and overseas ministers, Sébastien Lecornu, is to be held on Saturday at 6 p.m. in Paris, "to see what new measures can be taken following the unrest in the country. public order in the last few days, "Mr. Lecornu's entourage told AFP.

In the night from Friday to Saturday, while a curfew had been established between 6 p.m. and 5 a.m., pharmacies and telephone shops were notably targeted.

According to the Interior Ministry, 29 arrests were made.

"The night was very rough," a police source told AFP, reporting "live ammunition on a police vehicle" in Gosier and "on mobile gendarmes" in Pointe-à-Pitre.

In total, the police deplore, according to the same source, "the use of firearms on the police in four different sectors".

About a hundred police officers and 80 gendarmes were on the ground last night on the island.

The police officers notably faced an attempted intrusion into the Pointe-à-Pitre university residence, as well as "about twenty looting or attempted thefts" in shops in Pointe-à-Pitre and Gosier: jewelry store, PMU, banks, shopping center ...

During the night in Saint-François, "the gendarmes leaving the brigade were threatened by jets of flaming projectiles", without there being any injuries to deplore.

Firefighters intervened for fires in Petit-Bourg in two telephone shops, also looted.

In the same sector, "an armory was broken into" according to a source within the gendarmerie.

In the south of Basse-Terre, according to another source, the situation has been calmer on the roads despite some roadblocks: "People, in particular entrepreneurs, are starting to organize themselves and remove roadblocks, residents have helped them. gendarmes ".

A roadblock installed by demonstrators in Guadeloupe, November 17, 2021 Carla BERNHARDT AFP

However, the main axes remained blocked Saturday morning, and new dams were installed.

"Incomprehensible" situation

The mobilization launched five days ago by a collective of union and citizen organizations against the health pass and the vaccination obligation of caregivers against Covid-19 is now coupled with violence committed by rioters.

After a particularly violent night from Thursday to Friday, schools remained closed on Friday and, due to numerous roadblocks, activity is slowing down.

At the CHU, the only vehicles authorized to enter are ambulances.

In a press release released Friday morning, the director general of the Regional Health Agency (ARS), Valérie Denux condemned "the endangering of the lives of Guadeloupe and Guadeloupe and the attack on caregivers", describing the situation as "incomprehensible, whereas at present nearly 90% of the caregivers of the territory are in conformity with the law" obliging them to be vaccinated.

Rooms of patients with Covid-19, in the intensive care unit of the Center hospitalier universitaire de Pointe-a-Pitre, in Guadeloupe, September 3, 2021 Carla BERNHARDT AFP / Archives

As of November 16, 46.4% of people over 18 had received at least one injection in Guadeloupe, according to the ARS.

While MM.

Darmanin and Lecornu "condemned the violence" and "gave all their support to the police", the socialist presidential candidate, Anne Hidalgo, judged the violence "unbearable" on Saturday on TF1 and called for "dialogue".

"Let's restore order but listen to the anger of our Guadeloupe compatriots", for her part argued Marine Le Pen, when Jean-Luc Mélenchon accused Emmanuel Macron "of letting the situation degenerate" in a "logic of decay and demonization ", asking the government to open" negotiations ".

© 2021 AFP