The government announced, Friday, November 26, that it was postponing the implementation of the vaccination obligation for caregivers and firefighters in Guadeloupe and Martinique to December 31, in an attempt to put an end to the violence which left ten injured, including one. seriously, overnight among the police.

The suspensions will also be lifted for those who will accept individual support in these islands where the challenge to anti-Covid health measures is coupled with a serious social crisis.

The vaccination obligation was to apply on November 15 in the West Indies, the day the general strike began in Guadeloupe.

The movement then moved to Martinique, where the protest began on November 22.

What had started with blockades and pickets, however, quickly slipped into violence against the police, fires and looting, in these territories placed under curfew.

Law enforcement and journalists were targeted by gunfire on the night of Thursday to Friday in Martinique, where the violence left ten officers injured, including five by bullets.

"During the night, a police officer who was working with his colleagues on a burglary was violently hit by the looters' vehicle. He is seriously injured and is operated on that day," explained the Fort-de-France prosecutor's office.

A dozen arrests took place in Martinique during the night, according to the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin.

There "have been nearly 150 arrests since the beginning of this situation in Guadeloupe and Martinique", declared for his part the spokesman of the government, Gabriel Attal.

After consultation with local elected officials and regional authorities, the Overseas Ministers, Sébastien Lecornu, and Health, Olivier Véran, jointly announced to postpone "until December 31, 2021 the finalization of the implementation of the vaccination obligation "for Guadeloupe and Martinique, with the intention of reducing the tension.

In Guadeloupe, where the level of vaccination of caregivers is approaching 90% today, according to the ministers, "listening and dialogue groups" will be set up from Monday to receive "individually each professional affected by a suspension for non-compliance with the vaccination obligation ".

Lifting of suspensions

The date of the vaccination obligation is also extended to December 31 in Martinique for "all caregivers, employees of health and medico-social establishments, home helpers and firefighters".

After the intervention of a mediation at the Martinique University Hospital, its staff already benefited from this extension at the end of the year.

Those caregivers and firefighters who had chosen to be suspended rather than give in will see, if they accept individual support, "the suspension of their remuneration" lifted "for the duration of this exchange".

On the other hand, those who refuse "will continue their suspension", adds the text.

"The answer we are waiting for is the end of the vaccination obligation. So we remain on our pickets, even if it means sacrificing the end of year celebrations, as during other movements", declared to the AFP Delphine Isaac, laboratory technician at the Pointe-à-Pitre University Hospital, is on the picket line in front of the establishment.

"We are going to meet and think, but I doubt that what Sébastien Lecornu said will be enough to demobilize us. Because we do not want an injection for the moment, there is not enough distance vis-à-vis (of the vaccine) ", declared Anne Négoce-Atexide, who works in the pharmacy department of the CHU.

For Sormain Sandrou, UTS-UTG secretary at the CHU, the vaccination obligation is "discriminatory because it only concerns part of the population, and killer", he also assures us.

It remains to be seen whether these measures will allow a return to normalcy on these two islands where the anger has gone well beyond the challenge of the vaccination obligation, and has aroused anger generated by the lack of work and precariousness. 

With AFP

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