'Explosive' COVID-19 riots paralyze France's Guadeloupe
POINTE-À-PITRE, France — School cancelled, barricades on the street and pharmacies trashed: days of rioting against measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 have brought normal routines on France's Caribbean island of Guadeloupe to a standstill.
Paris authorities sent elite police and counter-terrorism officers to Guadeloupe over the weekend in a bid to quell the violence, the latest Covid-related headache in France's overseas territories for the government of President Emmanuel Macron.
Vaccination rates in France's overseas territories, in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and the Pacific, have generally been far lower than those on the mainland and there has been repeated unrest over anti-virus measures.
Protests in Guadeloupe, a territory of roughly 400,000 people, broke out after an announcement that coronavirus jabs would be mandatory for all healthcare workers, with the demonstrations marred by clashes and looting.
Overnight Sunday, police arrested 38 people after curfew violators looted and torched shops and pharmacies, and two security forces were injured.
Macron acknowledged the gravity of the situation and urged local politicians not to mix the pressing issue of Covid with colonial-era grievances and also longstanding complaints the territory is economically neglected by Paris.
"We will not give in to lies, distorting of information and the exploitation by some people of this situation," he told reporters on a visit to the northern French city of Amiens, calling the situation "very explosive".
"We do not play with health and we will not let the health of the French be played with for the sake of political infighting," he added.
'Situation remains uncertain'
The police reinforcements began dismantling protesters' road barricades shortly after their arrival, according to Colonel Jean Pierre from the gendarmerie in Pointe-a-Pitre, the island's main city.
Later on Monday, Prime Minister Jean Castex said, after holding a videoconference with local officials, that a forum for dialogue was being created to help healthcare professionals who might be worried by the vaccine obligation.
The barricades had impeded traffic, forcing the closure of schools on Guadeloupe's main island on Monday, the education ministry said.
The Guadeloupe prefecture said protesters fired on security forces and firefighters, adding that "organised gangs" were now also involved in the unrest.
Even though some barricades had been dismantled, "the situation remains uncertain concerning road traffic and the possibility of staff and students moving smoothly and safely seems compromised at this stage", the local authorities said in a statement.
Thirty people will appear in court on Monday in Pointe-a-Pitre for allegedly participating in the unrest, according to local prosecutor Patrick Desjardins.
'Intolerable and unacceptable'
Government spokesman Gabriel Attal called the situation "intolerable and unacceptable" and vowed a tough response against a "small minority" who were intimidating health workers, preventing pharmacies from opening and even using barricades to block ambulances.
A dusk-to-dawn curfew from 6:00 pm to 5:00 am is currently set to last until Tuesday.
Over the weekend, Guadeloupe's main trade union the UGTG called for continued protests.
While the demonstrations were sparked by the vaccine mandate, they also express "the depth of suffering, inequality, poverty and exclusion felt by the people, notably youths and the elderly," said UGTG secretary general Maite Hubert M'Toumo.
Since summer, Guadeloupe's vaccination drive has picked up, with 90 percent of healthcare workers vaccinated, as well as nearly half the general population.
In mainland France, the vaccinate rate is close to 75 percent of the population.
In the neighbouring French overseas territory of Martinique meanwhile, a general strike has been called for Monday, calling for an end to obligatory vaccination for health workers but also for wage rises and other social grievances. — Jerome RIVET in Amiens
As the pandemic, and quarantine restrictions around it, stretches on, some sectors have revived protests against lockdowns and, in some jursidictions, mandatory vaccination.
Photo: Demonstrators march during a "Men in Black" protest against new government Covid-19 restrictions in Copenhagen, Denmark, November 20, 2021.
A 50-year-old German man was jailed for life Tuesday for shooting dead a petrol station cashier because he was angry about being told to wear a mask while buying beer.
The September 2021 murder in the western town of Idar-Oberstein shocked Germany, which saw a vocal anti-mask and anti-vaccine movement emerge in response to the government's coronavirus restrictions.
The row started when 20-year-old student worker Alex W. asked the man to put on a mask inside the shop, as required in all German stores at the time. After a brief argument, the man left.
The perpetrator -- identified only as Mario N. -- returned about an hour and a half later, this time wearing a mask. But as he bought his six-pack of beer to the till, he took off his mask and another argument ensued.
He then pulled out a revolver and shot the cashier in the head point-blank. -- AFP
Riot police clashed with demonstrators outside New Zealand's parliament on Wednesday, using pepper spray and making dozens of arrests as they moved to end a long-running protest against coronavirus restrictions.
Hundreds of officers took to Wellington's streets before dawn to clear roads around parliament that have been clogged by protesters' vehicles for more than three weeks.
Ending a previous light-touch approach, officers with riot shields advanced on protesters yelling "Move! Move!", pulling down tents, and deploying a large forklift to remove cars and campervans to vehicle transporters.
Demonstrators who resisted were pepper-sprayed, and fighting erupted.
Police reported some protesters armed with pitchforks, but said they "gained significant ground" during the operation, which continued into Wednesday afternoon.
"We've seen tactics (from protesters) today including spraying fire extinguishers at the police line, the throwing of paint, early on we saw weapons," commissioner Andrew Coster said.
He said three officers received minor injuries and there were 36 arrests.
The force warned Wellington residents and office workers to steer clear of the area. — AFP
Several thousand people rallied in Madrid on Sunday in support of political rising star Isabel Diaz Ayuso, currently riding high in the polls after she helped open up the capital’s bars and restaurants amid pandemic fatigue.
Supporters took to the streets to back the party's head of the Madrid region after she claimed the national leadership of the main opposition conservative Popular Party tried to get rid of her.
Gathering outside the PP's headquarters, they waved flags and chanted slogans, calling for the head of the party to resign. — AFP
Ottawa interim police Chief Steve Bell said Saturday significant "progress" had been made to clear protesters from the Canadian capital but that the operation was "not over."
"Today we've made some very important progress in safely removing this unlawful protest from our streets," Bell told a news conference.
But, he added, "This operation is still moving forward, it is not over and it will take more time." — AFP
Canadian police issued an ultimatum Wednesday to protesters who've been choking Ottawa streets for 20 days to leave the capital, as provincial and US state leaders called for an end to the cross-border vaccine requirement that sparked the trucker-led movement.
Officials, meanwhile, announced a negotiated peaceful end to the last of several recent blockades by protesters of border crossings between Canada and the United States.
"You must leave the area now," Ottawa police said in a notice distributed to truckers outside parliament.
Anyone blocking streets or assisting others in doing so will be arrested and face charges, as well as fines and seizures of their trucks, the statement said.
Police also warned that anyone charged or convicted for taking part in the illegal demonstration may, in addition to criminal penalties, be barred from traveling to the United States. -- AFP
- Latest
- Trending
