On the third night of violence in Guadeloupe, France sends special police forces to Reuters

POINTE-A-PITRE, Guadeloupe (Reuters) – French overseas territory in Guadeloupe on a third night of robbery and riots amid protests against COVID-19 measures, firing weapons at police and firefighters, authorities said on Sunday.

Police arrested 38 people as they entered the shops and their cars were on fire.

Special police forces were due to arrive from mainland France to the Caribbean archipelago on Sunday to restore order.

“This situation cannot be accepted or even accepted,” government spokesman Gabriel Attal told Europe 1 radio.

As a sign that it could spread to other overseas territories in the Caribbean, unions called a general strike on Monday on the island of Martinique, French media reported.

The strike call calls for an end to the mandatory vaccination of health workers and support for the rise in high fuel prices.

The prefect of Guadeloupe, Alexandre Rochatte, who represents the French government, said in a statement that armed groups had tried to loot shops in Pointe-a-Pitre, Basse-Terre and Lamentin and confronted police.

They fired shots at police and firefighters in an attempt to put out the blaze. Four pharmacies entered and set fire to cars while security forces were putting up barricades to stop the intervention, the prefect added.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Saturday that France would send about 50 members of the GIGN and RAID elite tactical forces to the gendarmerie and police.

Prime Minister Jean Castex will also meet with the Guadeloupe authorities in Paris on Monday to discuss the situation.

On Friday, Rochatt set a limit from 6pm to 5am after five days of civil strife when barricades were burned on the streets and firefighters and doctors went on strike.

Guadeloupe unions began an indefinite strike last Monday to denounce health workers ’compulsory vaccination against COVID-19 and the requirements for health passes.

Guadalupe and Martinique have a deep-rooted history of vaccine uncertainty amid mistrust of the Paris government.

Data from the Ministry of Health show that so far 38% of the population has received a first shot in Martinique and 36% in Guadeloupe, compared to 77% of the French population.

In August, the Paris government forced doctors and nurses in metropolitan France to call for volunteers in Guadeloupe and Martinique as a wave of infection flooded hospitals.