The contestation of the health pass and the compulsory vaccination of caregivers is turning into a social crisis in Guadeloupe. New violence has forced the rectorate in recent hours to suspend the reception of students in schools, colleges and high schools. Faced with “a very explosive situation”, Emmanuel Macron asked this Monday to “not give in to lies and manipulation”.
On the sidelines of a visit to Amiens, the President of the Republic added that there was in Guadeloupe “a growing support for vaccination”, despite the opposition of a “very small minority”, “very active”. Under pressure from the opposition, the executive found itself back to the wall.
“Mistrust of public authorities is instrumentalised by minorities”
The government therefore tried to react quickly, by showing its firmness: a curfew, 200 reinforcements of police and gendarmes sent from mainland France, in particular 50 members of the GIGN and the Raid. “Violence is unacceptable. A majority of Guadeloupe are taken hostage by these malicious acts. Distrust against public authorities is instrumentalised by minorities, ”denounces Maud Bregeon, spokesperson for La République en Marche.
Thirty people suspected of having participated in urban violence were to be tried on Monday in immediate appearance in Pointe-à-Pitre, according to the public prosecutor. “Restoring public order is a priority, but at the same time it is necessary to re-establish dialogue”, adds the macronist. As such, the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, holds a crisis meeting by videoconference at the end of the afternoon in the presence of several ministers, as well as Guadeloupe elected officials. “The objective is to get everyone around the table, ministers and local elected officials, to find a lasting solution. See what solutions we can provide, on the health crisis as well as on deeper social issues, ”assures a government source.
“Overseas France has been abandoned by the Republic”
Because the protest against health obligations also feeds on anger against inequalities, unemployment, poverty and the feeling of exclusion. Elements taken up by the political opposition. “The government is responsible for blocking the situation after more than a month of demonstrations without dialogue and by suspending unvaccinated caregivers”, denounced Jean-Luc Mélenchon on Twitter.
“Overseas France has been abandoned by the Republic. Emmanuel Macron does not already know the “yellow vests” in metropolitan France, how do you expect him to know those who live 10,000 km away? », Tackled
Sunday on BFMTV Jordan Bardella, the president of the National Gathering. “There must be a security response and then a dialogue with the elected officials on the spot. This makes [trois mois] that there is not a minister who went to Guadeloupe ”,
also regretted on France inter Xavier Bertrand, candidate at the LR congress for the presidential election.
Will the government give up ballast?
“It is necessary that the State, at the highest level, hear the suffering and the concern of Guadeloupeans […] because the situation is almost insurrectionary ”, worried about France Info Olivier Serva, LREM deputy from Guadeloupe, who called for “discussing differentiated and adapted solutions” to the situation on the island. Justine Benin, her colleague from MoDem, assured this Sunday at 20 minutes having “asked, from last October 19, for accompanying measures, flexibility in the management of compulsory vaccination, to avoid chaos”.
Will the government give up ballast? “Guadeloupe is not outside France, it is France, and therefore the same law must apply there”, replied on France 2 the deputy president of the LREM group at the Assembly Aurore Bergé, sweeping away any idea of exemption while the vaccination rate among caregivers is approaching 90% (against 50% in the general population). But a government source ensures “that the option of differentiated measures remains on the table.”
To deal with the crisis, the Minister of Overseas Territories postponed his planned trip to Reunion Island and Mayotte from November 25 to 29 “to a later date”. The executive wants to appease the situation as soon as possible, and avoid the conflagration, while a call for a general strike was launched in Martinique for this Monday.