Several thousand people began to demonstrate on Saturday in Fort-de-France, Martinique, against the prescription of a complaint filed 14 years ago for chlordecone poisoning by associations in Martinique and Guadeloupe.
"
Matinik lévé
" (Martinique, get up!), Chant the demonstrators, gathered by around forty associations, unions and political parties on the island to say "
no to impunity
" and demand justice for the victims of the insecticide.
"
They poison us, they kill us
," says a banner of the CGT Martinique held by two women dressed in red.
In an air of carnival, other demonstrators had opted for red, green or black, colors of the flag claimed by the separatists.
Read also: West Indies: a 2006 complaint for chlordecone poisoning could be prescribed
Several associations from Martinique and Guadeloupe were heard on January 20 and 21 by the Parisian examining magistrates in charge of the case.
As early as 2006, they had filed a complaint against the poisoning of their islands with chlordecone.
But during this hearing, the investigating judges in charge of the case since 2008 explained to the plaintiffs that there could be statute of limitations and that the case could lead to a dismissal.
An option that shocked public opinion and led to this great mobilization this Saturday.
On a sign, a protester had calculated
the
Martinican "
bill
" for the French state: "
annual security ceiling (41,136 euros) X affected population (370,000 inhabitants) X 500 years = 7.6 billion euros
".
The mobilization is supported by some public figures such as singer and actor Joey Starr.
However, some have chosen not to join it, such as Yan Monplaisir, mayor of Saint-Joseph in Martinique and vice-president of the Territorial Assembly of Martinique, who fears "
the multiplication of demands that we see being grafted on to it. and the risk of recovery by activists who have repeatedly demonstrated acts of violence
”.
Read also: Chlordecone: against Dow, the tour de force of French lawyers
The insecticide was authorized between 1972 and 1993 in the banana plantations of the Antilles and infiltrated the soils for hundreds of years, polluting water and agricultural products, while its toxicity and its persistent power in the environment had been known for years. 60. The soil pollution will last nearly 600 years and affects agriculture, fishing, and the health of the inhabitants since the pesticide has also contaminated the water and part of the food.
More than 90% of the adult population in Guadeloupe and Martinique is contaminated by chlordecone, according to Public Health France, and the West Indian populations have one of the highest incidence rate of prostate cancer in the world.