The State retaliates against Guadeloupe's discontent.
On Friday, the prefect of Guadeloupe Alexandre Rochatte announced the establishment of a curfew between 6 p.m. and 5 a.m. with immediate effect until Tuesday, November 23, "given the ongoing social movements in the department and acts of vandalism ”starting from the mobilization against the health pass and the vaccination obligation of caregivers against Covid-19.
Roads and access to the CHU blocked, buildings and vehicles set on fire, schools closed… The anti-pass and anti-tax discontent that has lasted for five days, led by a collective of union and citizen organizations, 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.
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In a statement, the highest representative of the State on the island said he took into account "fires of public property, roadblocks, throwing stones at the police, mortar fire", and also prohibits the sale of gasoline in jerry cans.
Earlier in the day, the government had decided to send "in the coming days" 200 police and gendarmes to come to support the police on the spot.
"4 or 5 wounded gendarmes"
Friday evening, new fires were lit on barricades in Colin and Montebello, in Petit-Bourg (
Editor's note,
commune of Basse-Terre) according to Routes de Guadeloupe, after a new day of tensions.
Some roadblocks cleared by the police have been reconstituted all over the archipelago.
In the Pointoise zone, the day was "quieter" than the night according to a police source, but clashes again took place in the gendarmerie zone in order to clear the main roads.
Read also Covid-19: in Guadeloupe, vaccination struggles to take off and the health pass is still disputed
“We reduced a lot of roadblocks during the day.
At the start, we were in about forty nearly fifty on the whole of mainland Guadeloupe, mainly on major axes such as the RN2, the RN1 in Basse-Terre, and the RN4, the RN5 and the Grands Fonds (
Editor's note
: winding roads inland) in Grande Terre ”, indicated the command of the gendarmerie according to which“ 4 or 5 gendarmes have been injured ”since Thursday evening.
"Slight injuries but which are still unacceptable," commented this source.
Two investigations opened
The public prosecutor of Pointe-à-Pitre, Patrick Desjardins, has also announced the opening of two investigations for "damage by fire in an organized gang and theft with damage in an organized gang", concerning "attacks on stores", including five looted jewelry stores in Pointe-à-Pitre. Four buildings in the city, which has many wooden houses, went up in smoke during the night following the looting, say firefighters and a police source.
In front of the CHU, the only vehicles authorized to enter are the ambulances.
The dialysis centers of Guadeloupe have also warned of "a danger of death" for nearly 800 patients whose roadblocks could prevent access to care.
The gendarmeries of Lamentin and Morne-à-l'Eau in particular were “besieged” by people sometimes “hooded”, gendarmes injured “by throwing stones” and vehicles set on fire, according to police sources and the prosecution.
“Now there is a mix of people on the barricades.
Many young people, angry about the situation in Guadeloupe.
The vaccine obligation is the straw that broke the camel's back, ”said Maïté M'Toumo, secretary general of the UGTG, asking“ to open negotiations with the government ”.
A caregiver "attacked by a hooded person"
At the CHU, “roadblocks greatly penalize staff who come from all walks of life.
We have to wait until everyone is present to start and wait for the next generation to be present in order to continue, ”Anne-Gaëlle Pascale, a health manager in the operating room of the CHU, told AFP.
“There is filtering at the entrance, especially for interns, some of whom are prevented from passing.
One of them was even attacked by a hooded person, ”says Cédric Zolezzi, deputy director of the hospital center, deploring the lack of“ dialogue ”.
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The situation is all the more complex since since the beginning of November, "we have been on a small staff" with the introduction of the compulsory vaccination of caregivers, recalls Anne-Gaëlle Pascale.
Thus, in surgery, 50% of the staff usually on schedule are absent.
According to the management of the CHU, a little more than 87% of the agents of the hospital center have a health pass, but some personnel are suspended for invalid pass, to which is added "a wave of sick leaves", "on union instruction », Accuses Cédric Zolezzi.
On the education side, the rector of the academic region, Christine Goff-Ziegler, on Thursday condemned "all acts of vandalism and obstacles to movement" or "to access to establishments".
The pupils are, according to her "the first victims" of these excesses.
