COVID-19 unrest has created 'explosive' situation in Guadeloupe, says Macron
POINTE-A-PITRE, Guadeloupe, (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron said violence in Guadeloupe over COVID-19 restrictions had created a "very explosive" situation, as a general strike entered a second week yesterday and many stores remained shuttered after nighttime looting.
Hours before Macron's prime minister and lawmakers from the Caribbean archipelago were to hold crisis talks in Paris, there were signs of protests spreading to Martinique, another French overseas territory 190 km (120 miles) south of Guadeloupe.
Compulsory vaccination has touched a nerve in a population that is descended from slaves who worked on French sugar plantations and that during the 20th century was systematically exposed to toxic pesticides used in banana plantations.
"We are descendants of slaves, and for us, control over our bodies is really important," said Pamela Obertan, 40, a political scientist in Guadeloupe who helped organize protests against vaccine requirements. "The government wants to impose a medical experiment. We are still medical experiments."
Agriculture workers in Guadeloupe and Martinique were for decades exposed to a chemical pesticide called chlordecone. Macron has called it an "environmental scandal", French media reported in 2018.
The toxic exposure has since then been linked to unusually high rates of prostate cancer on both islands.
Guadeloupe health workers had since July been protesting coronavirus vaccines mandates and writing letters to government officials without getting a response, said Obertan. By Nov. 15, some could no longer work because they had refused the vaccine.