Eleven police officers were injured on Monday October 7 in Martinique during clashes with activists against the high cost of living who were carrying out a blocking action in Lamentin, on one of the main roads on the island, the prefecture said.
“After the summons” as usual, the police intervened to ” release “ a roundabout occupied by around fifty people, seven heavy goods vehicles, two vehicles “out of use” and construction equipment, according to a press release from the Martinique prefecture.
The police officers suffered “violent attacks” during this intervention, facing stones and bottles, continued the same source, which specifies that eleven of them were “injured by these attacks”.
Arrest of five individuals
“Faced with such behavior, the internal security forces used force, dispersed the crowd and arrested five individuals”depending on the prefecture.
Rodrigue Petitot, leading figure in the movement to combat the high cost of living, was injured in the thigh after falling on a fence that he was trying to climb over, a police source said.
“We confirm that our president Rodrigue Petitot, known as the R, was chased and injured in the hand and leg”reacted the Rally for the Protection of Afro-Caribbean Peoples and Resources (RPPRAC) in a press release denouncing the “police repression” of “Peaceful Martinicans”. The collective reported two activists placed in police custody.
Urban violence
A movement against the high cost of living, a recurring theme in the French West Indies, was launched at the beginning of September by the RPPRAC, which demands an alignment with France of the prices of food products, 40% more expensive in Martinique.
On the sidelines of this movement, the island was shaken by urban violence which led the prefecture to establish a nighttime curfew in certain districts of Fort-de-France and the neighboring commune of Lamentin.
Four round tables have been organized by the authorities since the start of the crisis, without a satisfactory outcome for the protesters. A fifth round table, which was to be held on Monday, was postponed indefinitely.
