Protests continue in Guadeloupe, government under pressure

A car returned after the violence during protests against the vaccine obligation and the health pass, in Le Gosier, Guadeloupe, November 21, 2021. © AP - Elodie Soupama

Text by: RFI Follow

4 min

In Guadeloupe, the challenge to the compulsory vaccination of caregivers has degenerated into fires, blockades and looting.

The government sent members of the Raid and the GIGN there.

The opposition accuses the executive of having forgotten the Guadeloupeans. 

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For government spokesperson Gabriel Attal, "the 

current situation is intolerable and unacceptable

 ".

Looted shops, a burnt police station, and dozens of barricades still in place in the early hours: the situation in Guadeloupe did not calm down overnight from Saturday to Sunday, and demonstrations against the health pass continue.

More than 200 police officers have been deployed in the center of the island.

Faced with fire from demonstrators towards the police, some 150 tear gas canisters were thrown.

To lend a hand to the police on the spot, about fifty members of the elite forces of the GIGN and the Raid were sent on Saturday, November 20 by the Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin.

The General Union of Workers of Guadeloupe (UGTG), at the origin of the protest movement, called despite everything " 

to continue the mobilization

 ".

The drop of water that broke the camel's back

 "

For Marine Le Pen as for Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the situation in Guadeloupe has only one responsible: Emmanuel Macron. After contaminations with Chlordecone, water supply problems and Sarguassic algae, the vaccine obligation would be the “

straw that

broke the camel's back 

 ”, in the words of the candidate of the National Rally (RN). Same line with his rival La France Insoumise (LFI): “ 

Everything was predictable. Emmanuel Macron chose to look elsewhere and let the situation escalate.

 "

For Patrick Karam, born in Pointe-à-Pitre and today vice-president of the Ile-de-France regional council, elected by the majority of Valérie Pécresse, “ 

the health pass is just a match.

The truth is that there is a social malaise, an identity malaise, a malaise of positioning in relation to the Republic, the feeling of downgrading and neglect that exists and which does not stop rising.

 "

Patrick Karam affirms it:

overseas territories cannot be managed like the Hexagon. “ 

While in Martinique, a team of mediators arrived on site and recommended and obtained that the entry of the health pass for caregivers and firefighters only take place at the end of December, in Guadeloupe, nothing! We cannot treat the territories differently. Today, we must restore order in Guadeloupe, that's correct, but we must also open a dialogue

!

 "

Precisely, next to the firmness displayed by his Minister of the Interior, Jean Castex receives this Monday evening elected officials from the island.

The Prime Minister wants to display a united political front against the violence.

The executive knows that the situation can get even worse, notes

Julien Chavanne

, of the political service of RFI.

In 2009, Guadeloupe and Martinique remained paralyzed for 44 days by demonstrations against the high cost of living.

Not the fight of the Guadeloupe population

 "

For hospital staff who are exhausted from dealing with the pandemic, the situation is very complicated.

According to Patrick Portecop, emergency doctor in Guadeloupe, " 

there was an anti-vaccination dispute which was taken up by unions which have a particular policy

 ".

Patrick Portecop, emergency doctor in Guadeloupe

Sylvie Koffi

The vaccination obligation concerns many personnel in Guadeloupe, and of these personnel, 90% have accepted the vaccination obligation because they depend on the services of the State and it is quite simply a law,

recalls of his side

sociologist Patricia Braflan Trobo, specialist in social conflicts in Guadeloupe

. It is not a Guadeloupe movement against the vaccine obligation and the health pass. Even if you have a lot of people who are not vaccinated, people know full well that the whole population is not subject to the vaccination obligation, even if a lot of trade unionists have ridden this wave for a while.

 "

People who are in the private sector,

continues the sociologist,

 do not understand today that they are prevented from going to work and that for some, they will lose their job because their work tool has been destroyed, like supermarkets, jewelry stores ... A whole bunch of businesses have been destroyed because about 10% of health professionals and workers who are affected by the vaccination obligation refuse this vaccination obligation. I believe that the population has understood very well what is at stake, what fight is being waged and who is concerned. And it is not a fight of the Guadeloupe population. The roadblocks are not manned by the strikers either.

 "  

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