Martinique’s prefecture has reported that overnight, hooded and armed individuals pelted police officers and fired shots from automatic weapons amid continuing protests regarding the high cost of living.
According to a release from the prefecture, quoted by local media, firefighters and gendarmes were targeted three times by several dozen repeated shots, in bursts, from automatic weapons in Schoelcher.
In addition, reports indicate that individuals set a vehicle on fire and prevented firefighters from accessing it.
“Many offenders threw Molotov cocktails and projectiles at the police and gendarmes,” added the prefecture.
Security forces had to intervene in Schoelcher, Sainte-Luce, Case-Pilote and Fort-de-France to allow emergency services to respond and limit damage due to fiery road barricades.
Radio France Internationale (RFI) reported an official decree from the prefecture of Martinique stating that “all movement of individuals in public spaces is prohibited between midnight and 5.00 am until 28 October.”
The curfew is part of broader measures that also restrict the sale and transportation of gasoline and the use of fireworks, RFI stated.
The latest Martinique unrest follows a brief period of relative calm.
The Assembly for the Protection of Afro-Caribbean Peoples and Resources has been at the forefront of the movement against rising prices.
The group refused to sign a document to reduce the prices of approximately 6,000 food products by an average of 20 percent, RFI said.
The organisation deemed the number of products included in the agreement insufficient, highlighting that food prices in the region are about 40 percent higher than in mainland France.
As a result, the group has called for continued mobilisation.
