Tag: Guadeloupe

French Interior Minister Heads To Caribbean Territories to Defuse Tensions

PARIS — France’s minister for overseas territories will hold crisis talks on its Caribbean islands starting today, an official said, as the government looks to defuse tensions after more than a week of unrest stemming from its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic there. “I don’t think we will return to Paris necessarily having resolved the […]

France Says Several Police Injured During Unrest in Martinique and Guadeloupe

BASSE-TERRE — French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said today that several members of the police force had been injured as a result of civil unrest during protests against COVID-19 protocols on France’s Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe. “In Guadeloupe and Martinique, our security forces as well as journalists have been the target of attacks […]

Gunshots Fired At Police In France’s Martinique, Guadeloupe Still Tense

FORT-DE-FRANCE — Gunshots were fired overnight at police in Martinique for the second night running, French media reported today, in a sign that unrest triggered by COVID-19 restrictions that has also rocked the nearby island of Guadeloupe. BFM TV, quoting police forces, reported that shootings lasted for several hours and noted the situation was still […]

90 People Arrested In Guadeloupe Over Clashes With Police Over COVID Rules

BASSE-TERRE — Protesters in French overseas territories in the Caribbean opposing measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 clashed again with security forces on Tuesday as the Paris government vowed to restore order. French authorities have extended the curfew imposed on the island of Guadeloupe until Sunday. Hardline opponents of measures that include compulsory vaccination […]

COVID-19 Unrest Has Created ‘Explosive’ Situation In Guadeloupe, Says Macron

POINTE-A-PITRE — French President Emmanuel Macron said violence in Guadeloupe over COVID-19 restrictions had created a “very explosive” situation, as a general strike entered a second week on Monday and many stores remained shuttered after nighttime looting. Hours before Macron’s prime minister and lawmakers from the Caribbean archipelago were to hold crisis talks in Paris, […]

Guadeloupe Put On Strict Curfew By French Over COVID-19 Protocols Unrest

LE GOSIER — Residents in the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, an overseas territory of France, expressed dismay today after protests against COVID-19 restrictions erupted into rioting and looting for the third day in a row, prompting French authorities to send in police special forces. Road blockades by protesters made traveling across the island nearly impossible […]

Banana Growers On Guadeloupe, Martinique Poisoned By A Carcinogenic Pesticide

BASSE-TERRE — The results of a French parliamentary commission of inquiry into the use of the carcinogenic pesticide chlordecone in the Guadeloupe and Martinique show that the government “consistently failed” to respond to environmental and health warnings over two decades. “First we were enslaved. Then we were poisoned.” That’s how many on Martinique see the […]