2024-10-19 18:05:00
“Things have just begun” : Around 2,000 demonstrators, according to a journalist from Agence France-Presse (AFP), gathered on Saturday 19 October in Fort-de-France, determined to continue the movement against the high cost of living in Martinique despite the agreement signed on the reduction in food prices.
The state announced Wednesday evening that it had signed an agreement, specifically with distributors, to reduce “20% on average” food prices in Martinique, the scene of a mobilization full of violence since September. However, this agreement was not signed by the Rally for the Protection of Afro-Caribbean Peoples and Resources (RPPRAC), the collective at the origin of the movement, which had called a demonstration on Saturday in the parking lot of a stadium. The RPPRAC called for new lockdowns starting Monday across the entire territory of the Caribbean island of around 350,000 inhabitants.
“Until then we accepted in silence. Shall we continue the fight? »Rodrigue Petitot then asks, to which his supporters respond «Oui»always with a raised fist. “This fight is our fight (…)if we say that no one can move, no one will be able to move. We are at home here.”then he writes the “R”, qualifying the agreement as” failure “.
“The movement will spread”
“Things are just beginning, the movement is there, it has taken root and will expand”says, on condition of anonymity, a resident wearing a T-shirt with the image of Martinican anti-colonial activist Frantz Fanon.
Same story for Supa Maya, the stage name of a local singer: « [J’ai] we want our people, that the children of today can live a better future in Martinique”he said. Reason why “we have to do something, if we capitulate everything will get worse”continues.
After an initial partial curfew implemented from 18 to 26 September to contain the unrest, the prefect decreed new bans on night-time travel across the entire territory starting from 10 October. These measures are in effect until Monday.
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