Workers strike in Guadeloupe, which is still a French colony in the Caribbean, has prompted the intervention of a mediator dispatched by the Sarkozy government.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
POINTE-A-PITRE, Guadeloupe AFP) - - A union activist was killed overnight in Guadeloupe as the month-long strike on the French Caribbean island escalated into riots and shootings, local authorities said Wednesday.
Jacques Bino, aged in his 50s, was shot dead while driving his car near a roadblock manned by armed youths who opened fire at police with buckshot in the capital Pointe-a-Pitre, an official from the local administration said.
He was the first victim of the escalating violence on the island crippled since January 20 by a general strike over the high cost of living.
The government in Paris appealed for calm and Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie called crisis talks on the deteriorating security situation.
Six members of the security forces were slightly injured during shoot-outs with armed youths, including three police officers who were hurt while helping emergency teams who rushed to Bino's aid, police said.
The activist, employed in a government tax office, was returning from a labour meeting, said Elie Domota, leader of the Collective Against Exploitation (LKP), the coalition of unions and leftist groups that launched the strike.
Gangs of youths looted shops, smashed storefront windows and threw up burning roadblocks overnight along the main streets of the capital and in at least two other towns. At least 13 people were detained.
"The government's message is first of all to appeal for calm, that is the most important thing," said spokesman Luc Chatel in Paris.
"Everyone is better off finding a place at the negotiating table than on the barricades," he told Europe 1 radio.
Ary Chalus, mayor of the town of Baie-Mahault where three more police were hurt, described the scene as "chaos."
"We have 15-year-old children who are clashing with police. We may well have families in mourning," he warned.
The LKP has said it plans to step up protests this week after the government refused to bow to demands for a monthly 200-euro (260-dollar) pay increase for low-wage earners.
Domota appealed for calm but also accused French authorities of treating the island, one of its four overseas department, like a "colony."
"Guadeloupe is a colony because they would never have allowed the situation to fester for so long in a French department before taking action," Domota said on RTL radio.
The conflict has exposed race and class divisions on the island, where the local white elite wields power over the black majority.
The economy is largely in the hands of the "Bekes," the local name for whites who are mostly descendants of colonial landlords and sugar plantation slave owners of the 18th and 19th centuries.
A Socialist opposition leader, Malikh Boutih, said it was "shocking" to watch a police force "almost 100 percent white, confront a black population" and drew a parallel with the 2005 suburban riots in France.
"There are no concrete buildings, there are palm trees, but it's the same dead-end, the same 'no future' for young people, with joblessness and a feeling of isolation," Boutih said.
President Nicolas Sarkozy is planning to meet elected officials from Guadeloupe and other overseas departments in Paris on Thursday to take stock of the situation.
Unions launched a strike on the neighbouring French island of Martinique on February 5 also to press for higher salaries and measures to bring down the prices of basic goods.
Most shops, cafes, banks, schools and government offices have been shut in Guadeloupe and Martinique and the strike has also hit the key tourism industry.
LIYANNAJ KONT PWOFITASYON
Collectif des 47 organisations
UGTG, Rue Paul Lacavé 97 110 Point-à-Pitre Guadeloupe
Fax : International : 00 335 90 89 08 70
France : 05 90 89 08 70
Email : ugtg@wanadoo.fr
NEW OFFICIAL LKP WEBSITE: http://www.lkp-gwa.org/
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Appeal to the International Workers' and Democratic Movements
Dear Sisters and Brothers:
As we wrote in our last international appeal of February 6, 2009: "The bosses and the representatives of the French State are hoping that the general strike will die down, so that they can then begin the repression."
This is visibly the political thinking that prompted the French State to take action, as they did on February 16.
In the face of the obstinate refusal by the French State and the bosses to heed our demands, in the face of their scorn for the people of Guadeloupe, the Liannaj Kont Pwofitation Strike Collective, or LKP, issued a call to the population on the 28th day of the General Strike to reinforce the picket lines across the country. The French State proceeded to repress the movement, seriously injuring one trade union leader, injuring others less seriously, and arresting more than 70 activists, including many trade union leaders of the LKP Strike Collective.
The population, the workers, the youth have said, "Enough is Enough!" They refuse to give up the struggle.
A number of elected officials protested against this State violence, which was also denounced by the LKP.
The workers, the youth, the people of Guadeloupe have strengthened their mobilizations on the ground. Their resolute actions won the freedom of all the jailed activists.
Today, on the 29th day of the general strike [Feb. 17], Guadeloupe is paralyzed by barricades in nearly every commune.
Youth were arrested the night of February 16-17, 2009.
This repression is going to continue, as the French State has just sent in a reinforcement of 1,000 mobile police troops [to bolster the 4,000 troops sent in on Feb. 7 -- translator's note]. The LKP has issued a call to the population to reinforce their mobilizations.
Dear Sisters and Brothers:
In the name of international labor solidarity, in the name of democracy, we call upon you once more to request your support for our just struggle.
The workers and people of Guadeloupe have the right to fight for their legitimate demands!
In solidarity,
ADIM - AFOC - AGPIHM - AKIYO - AN BOUT'AY - ANG - ANKA - ASSE - ASS.AGRICULTEURS DU NORD BASSE-TERRE - ASS.LIBERTE EGALITE JUSTICE - CFTC - CGTG - CNL - COMBAT OUVRIER - COMITE DE L'EAU - CONVENTION POUR UNE GUADELOUPE NOUVELLE - COPAGUA - CSFG - CTU - ESPERANCE ENVIRONNEMENT - FAEN SNCL - FO - FSU - GIE SBT - KAMODJAKA - KAP Gwadloup - LES VERTS - MADICE - MAS KA KLE - MOUVMAN NONM - PCG - SGEP/SNEC/CFTC - SOS B/Terre ENVIRONNEMENT - SPEG - SUD PTT GWA - SUNICAG - SYMPA CFDT - TRAVAYE é PEYIZAN - UDCLCV - UIR CFDT - UNSA - UGTG - UPG - UPLG - UMPG - VOukoum-SNUIPP-ADEIC
-- Guadeloupe, February 17, 2009
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