TheCultofAbeLincoln
19th February 2009, 02:03
FORT-DE-FRANCE, Martinique (AP) — Thousands of tourists looking for fun in the sun have canceled vacations to a pair of French Caribbean islands, where violent strikes have left one man dead, piles of smelly uncollected garbage in the streets, and stores looted and burned.
Protesters in Martinique and Guadeloupe have persisted with a work stoppage to demand higher salaries and lower prices, hurting scores of businesses including restaurants, hotels and car rental agencies during the islands' peak winter tourist season, Martinique Tourism Authority chairwoman Madeleine de Grandmaison said Wednesday.
"Tourism is fragile," she said. "People are not only canceling this week, but also for all the months of February, March and April. We have a huge deficit of tourists ahead of us."
At least 10,000 tourists have canceled vacations in Martinique and Guadeloupe, according to the National Travel Agencies organization.
Guadeloupe's strike, waged by residents struggling with soaring living costs, has persisted for almost a month. Martinique's is in its third week. A protester was shot dead late Tuesday on Guadeloupe as youths went on a rampage, looting 15 businesses and burning seven. Twenty-one cars were also torched. Looters were blamed for Tuesday night's shooting — the first fatality in the unrest.
"People are scared," said Laetitia Delaprade, a spokeswoman at Voyages Antillais, a Paris-based travel agency that specializes in French Caribbean vacations. "They do not want to travel to the Antilles now."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy plans to host elected officials from Guadeloupe, Martinique and other departments and territories on Thursday "to respond to the anxiety, the worry, and a certain form of despair of our compatriots overseas," Sarkozy said during a TV appearance.
...
French Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie told reporters that France will send four extra police squadrons, totaling about 300 men, to Guadeloupe as reinforcements. About 150 riot police were sent earlier.
"Acts of pillaging, atrocities and violence against other people ... will not be tolerated," she said.
Jacques Bino was shot overnight in Guadeloupe as he drove home after attending a protesters' meeting, police said. Rioters fired at police and emergency workers with hunting rifles, preventing them from reaching a wounded Bino for several hours, said Nicolas Desforges, the island's top appointed official. By the time they arrived, three hours later, he was dead.http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jmweJ8SzMduOZH3iKJMPyKFo2Y5wD96E9SMG0
FORT-DE-FRANCE, Martinique (http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/02/13/news/CB-Caribbean-France-Unrest.php#): Racial and class tensions gripped the French Caribbean island of Martinique on Friday as 2,000 protesters backing a wage strike chanted slogans against the island's white elite.
Some 2,000 mostly black protesters marched Friday through the capital, chanting slogans against "bekes" — the descendants of colonists and slave holders. "Martinique is ours, not theirs!" they yelled.
The elite group makes up an estimated 1 percent of Martinique's 401,000 residents, and own the majority of industries. Most of the Martinique's population is descended from African slaves brought to work on its colonial-era sugar plantations.
Many working class families are struggling to make ends meet amid a global economic crisis, exposing racial tensions 160 years after slavery ended in Martinique.
Police say the protests remain peaceful, and 130 riot police arrived from France this week to keep order.
But racial sentiments were inflamed after a one-hour documentary, "The last owners of Martinique," was shown on TV last week. The program focused on how the white minority group has dominated the economy.
One white business owner was quoted as saying historians should look at "the positive aspects of slavery" and that a mixed-race family lacks "harmony." Officials in France have opened an investigation against the businessman, Alain Huygues-Despointes.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/02/13/news/CB-Caribbean-France-Unrest.php
I thought this was, if I may be forgiven for saying so, an amusing tactic:
Protesters have left papers, beer bottles, plastic containers and other trash throughout the capital, Fort-de-France, causing some to turn up their noses.
"All of Fort-de-France is closed and dirty," Grandmaison said. "It is not reasonable to tell cruise ships to come."
Protesters in Martinique and Guadeloupe have persisted with a work stoppage to demand higher salaries and lower prices, hurting scores of businesses including restaurants, hotels and car rental agencies during the islands' peak winter tourist season, Martinique Tourism Authority chairwoman Madeleine de Grandmaison said Wednesday.
"Tourism is fragile," she said. "People are not only canceling this week, but also for all the months of February, March and April. We have a huge deficit of tourists ahead of us."
At least 10,000 tourists have canceled vacations in Martinique and Guadeloupe, according to the National Travel Agencies organization.
Guadeloupe's strike, waged by residents struggling with soaring living costs, has persisted for almost a month. Martinique's is in its third week. A protester was shot dead late Tuesday on Guadeloupe as youths went on a rampage, looting 15 businesses and burning seven. Twenty-one cars were also torched. Looters were blamed for Tuesday night's shooting — the first fatality in the unrest.
"People are scared," said Laetitia Delaprade, a spokeswoman at Voyages Antillais, a Paris-based travel agency that specializes in French Caribbean vacations. "They do not want to travel to the Antilles now."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy plans to host elected officials from Guadeloupe, Martinique and other departments and territories on Thursday "to respond to the anxiety, the worry, and a certain form of despair of our compatriots overseas," Sarkozy said during a TV appearance.
...
French Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie told reporters that France will send four extra police squadrons, totaling about 300 men, to Guadeloupe as reinforcements. About 150 riot police were sent earlier.
"Acts of pillaging, atrocities and violence against other people ... will not be tolerated," she said.
Jacques Bino was shot overnight in Guadeloupe as he drove home after attending a protesters' meeting, police said. Rioters fired at police and emergency workers with hunting rifles, preventing them from reaching a wounded Bino for several hours, said Nicolas Desforges, the island's top appointed official. By the time they arrived, three hours later, he was dead.http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jmweJ8SzMduOZH3iKJMPyKFo2Y5wD96E9SMG0
FORT-DE-FRANCE, Martinique (http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/02/13/news/CB-Caribbean-France-Unrest.php#): Racial and class tensions gripped the French Caribbean island of Martinique on Friday as 2,000 protesters backing a wage strike chanted slogans against the island's white elite.
Some 2,000 mostly black protesters marched Friday through the capital, chanting slogans against "bekes" — the descendants of colonists and slave holders. "Martinique is ours, not theirs!" they yelled.
The elite group makes up an estimated 1 percent of Martinique's 401,000 residents, and own the majority of industries. Most of the Martinique's population is descended from African slaves brought to work on its colonial-era sugar plantations.
Many working class families are struggling to make ends meet amid a global economic crisis, exposing racial tensions 160 years after slavery ended in Martinique.
Police say the protests remain peaceful, and 130 riot police arrived from France this week to keep order.
But racial sentiments were inflamed after a one-hour documentary, "The last owners of Martinique," was shown on TV last week. The program focused on how the white minority group has dominated the economy.
One white business owner was quoted as saying historians should look at "the positive aspects of slavery" and that a mixed-race family lacks "harmony." Officials in France have opened an investigation against the businessman, Alain Huygues-Despointes.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/02/13/news/CB-Caribbean-France-Unrest.php
I thought this was, if I may be forgiven for saying so, an amusing tactic:
Protesters have left papers, beer bottles, plastic containers and other trash throughout the capital, Fort-de-France, causing some to turn up their noses.
"All of Fort-de-France is closed and dirty," Grandmaison said. "It is not reasonable to tell cruise ships to come."