France will send special forces to Guadalupe after looting, fire | Coronavirus pandemic News

The implementation comes after the night’s closure failed to quell violent protests against COVID-19.

France is sending dozens of special police forces to restore order on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe amid protests and looting amid protests over COVID-19 measures.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said France would send about 50 members of the elite tactical forces of GIGN and RAID to overseas territory, where it would send shops looted, anti-police shootings and 31 people. they were arrested that night.

Additional forces will increase the number of police and gendarmes available in Guadeloupe to 2,250, Darmann said.

“The first message is that the state will stand firm,” he said.

The spread came after days of unrest as protesters rallied in several towns against the night limit set to calm the violence.

“The night was very turbulent,” a police source told AFP news agency.

Security forces recorded “about 20 robberies or attempted robberies” in the coastal towns of Pointe-a-Pitre and Le Gosier, including a jewelry store, a bank, a betting shop and a shopping center, the source said.

In the eastern town of Saint-François, “gendarmes leaving the station were threatened with gunshots.”

“Firearms were used against police forces in four different areas” across the island, the source added, after a lightly wounded officer hit a stone in the face.

A second source inside the gendarmerie said they had looted a gun.

In the western Le Petit-Bourg area, firefighters had to put out a fire in two mobile phone shops, which were also looted.

The prefect of Guadalupe, Alexandre Rochatte, who is represented in the archipelago by the French government, closed the closure on Friday from 18:00 to 05:00 after five days of civil strife when barricades were burned in the streets and firefighters and doctors went on strike.

In a Twitter bulletin referring to vandalism, Rochatte later said the damage to the post-dam electrical works, especially one in Capesterre-Belle-Eau, was causing disruptions to many customers and warned of the risk of electrocution.

Unions began an indefinite strike on Monday against COVID-19 to denounce the compulsory vaccination of health workers and the requirements for passages.

Although most people in mainland France have now received two doses of vaccine, rates in overseas territories have been delayed.

By November 16, 46 percent of Guadalupe adults had received at least one vaccine against COVID-19.