French islands of Guadeloupe placed under curfew amid COVID unrest

PARIS (Reuters) -Authorities imposed a curfew on the French overseas territory of Guadeloupe on Friday following five days of civil unrest over COVID-19 protocols that have seen barricades burned in the streets and firefighters and doctors walk out on strike.

Guadeloupe’s prefect, Alexandre Rochatte, who represents the government on the Caribbean archipelago, said the nightly curfew would run from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m. The sale of petrol in jerry cans would also be forbidden, he added.

“In light of the social unrest and acts of vandalism, the prefect of Guadeloupe has decided to impose a curfew,” Rochatte’s office said on Twitter.

Trade unions launched an indefinite strike on Monday to protest the compulsory vaccination of health workers against COVID-19 and health pass requirements.

Protesters have torched cars and erected makeshift barricades across streets. Video on social media showed police charging protesting firefighters who used fire hoses to try and repel the officers, and plumes of smoke rising over neighbourhoods.

Earlier in the day, the Paris government said it would send 200 police to Guadeloupe to help quell the unrest.

“Some people say to us, ‘you’re paralysing Guadeloupe,” one protester told Canal 10 television. “I say to them, ‘my dear brothers and sisters, for a year and a half the government has (…) imposed restrictions on our daily lives.”

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten and Leslie Adler)