Europe 1 with AFP 10:12 p.m., December 01, 2021

Thanks to the sending of numerous reinforcements to the Antilles, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin estimated that the return of public order "is progressing strongly" in Guadeloupe and Martinique.

These two territories have been affected for weeks by social movements. 

The restoration of public order in Guadeloupe and Martinique, affected for two weeks by social movements, "is progressing strongly", said Wednesday the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin after the visit of his colleague from Besides -sea Sébastien Lecornu.

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Many reinforcements

Thanks to the sending of "5 UFM (Mobile Force Units) for each of the two islands" and the reinforcement "of the elite units of the Raid and the GIGN, (...) after 8 days, obviously the recovery of this public order is progressing, and is progressing strongly on the two islands ", declared Gérald Darmanin during the session of questions to the government of the Senate. After "fifty police officers and gendarmes injured, including one seriously, and more than 150 arrests, the republican order was affirmed", declared again the minister.

Prime Minister Jean Castex and Sébastien Lecornu, back in Paris, spoke by videoconference with local elected officials from the two islands.

On the spot, the prefecture of Guadeloupe reported "some additional attempts to install dams on Petit-Canal, Sainte-Anne, Pointe-Noire and Le Moule in particular", but these dams, "with the exception of Petit- Canal, have been cleared and no longer obstruct traffic ".

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Sébastien Lecornu is the guest of Sonia Mabrouk on Thursday at 8:13 a.m.

"Gradual reopening of roads"

Three people were arrested during the night, said the prefecture, welcoming the "gradual reopening of the roads". The very fluid situation around these dams, unblocked one day but being able to be erected again the next day, makes any counting difficult. According to an AFP journalist, the Montebello dam, an important crossing point, had been unlocked on Wednesday morning.

In Martinique, the situation remained tense in the port of Fort-de-France where the police "allowed the lifting of the dam" at a strategic roundabout, that of the Cement Factory, according to the prefecture. But according to a member of the inter-union interviewed by AFP, the intervention of the police came to question their intention to relax the blockade of the port. The port brought a summary action against four trade union organizations for obstruction. The hearing, which was scheduled to take place on Wednesday, has been postponed until Friday.

This lull, already noticeable the day before, coincides with the end of Tuesday of Sébastien Lecornu's short stay, one day in each island, intended to ease tensions and get out of the crisis in the French West Indies, born from the refusal of this vaccination obligation for caregivers and firefighters and which has extended to political and social demands, in particular against the high cost of living.