Mauritius: civil society calls on the authorities to defuse the social crisis
Audio 01:27
Despite the ban on mass demonstrations, Mauritians gathered outside the police headquarters on April 22, 2022, while riots rocked the country elsewhere.
© RFI/Abdoollah Earally
Text by: Abdoollah Earally Follow
2 mins
After the eruptions of violence last week in Mauritius, many voices are calling on the authorities to revise food prices and assist the poorest.
The country is trying to understand the reasons for the riots which resulted in a bullet wound on the side of the demonstrators, and 13 injured among the police.
The management of national affairs has something to do with it, but the final straw has been the recent increases in household gas and fuels.
The fed up of the citizens resounded in front of the very HQ of the police.
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From our correspondent in Port-Louis,
“
The dictatorship, we do not want it.
The government must go
”, chants an agitated crowd in front of the police headquarters, in Port-Louis, the capital.
This spontaneous rally on Friday evening was the culmination of the outburst of anger among Mauritians.
Demonstrators who came to support one of their comrades arrested, according to them, arbitrarily.
That evening, citizens defied the ban on mass demonstrations.
A demonstrator shouts in front of the microphones of the press: “
I want to send a message, take a good look at this surveillance camera, you will see the number of people who will be arrested tomorrow.
»
For the time being, only three people have been arrested, but the hunt for demonstrators and thugs has begun, thanks to the presence of numerous police officers in civilian clothes in the crowd and a national system of surveillance cameras.
Disturbances took place in nine localities on the island for two days, after a protest against the high cost of living in Camp Levieux, a working-class district of Rose-Hill, the country's second city.
The recent increases, 30% for household gas and 25% for fuels, have panicked the inhabitants.
“
I live in Camp Levieux, I was coming home from work when I saw the revolt of the inhabitants of the city.
Everything is increasing and our salary is too low
”, criticizes a young worker.
His neighbor uses the same language: “
Life is getting too hard.
The basic salary is 11,500 rupees.
After the loans and the bills, we have nothing left, how can you last a month?
»
The minimum wage is 11,075 rupees, or around 210 euros per month, in Mauritius.
Consumer associations are now demanding 350 euros, or 18,000 rupees.
Academic Rajen Narsinghen calls on the government to act immediately to defuse the social bomb: “
The government must immediately offer allowances to those who cannot afford them.
Those who have less than 15,000 rupees (less than 300 euros), they must have the right to food and the right to health from the government.
»
Many voices call for a review of prices and a new social dialogue.
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