Saturday, December 25, 2021
And suddenly Christmas break
Opponents of the compulsory vaccination occupy the Parliament of Guadeloupe
The French overseas region of Guadeloupe is following the guidelines from Paris and announcing compulsory vaccination for certain professional groups. A small part of the population does not want to support this and forcibly occupies the local parliament – until Christmas intervenes.
In the French overseas territory of Guadeloupe, opponents of the corona vaccination requirement occupied the local parliament for more than a day. Several union leaders told AFP that the squatters were leaving the building voluntarily because of Christmas. Dozens of demonstrators broke into the plenary hall of the Guadeloupe Regional Council during a session that morning.
The intrusion has been described by the regional government as an act of “unprecedented violence”. On Friday afternoon, after several hours of discussion, the occupiers decided to pull down their tents. They wanted to buy “yams, black pudding and pork” for the traditional Christmas dinner and meet with other strike groups, said protester leader Elie Domota. He announced new promotions for the coming week.
The demonstrators – a coalition of organizations including trade unions and citizens’ groups – had demanded that the government negotiate the compulsory vaccination for nurses and firefighters. On Friday morning, however, the government again ruled out negotiating a suspension of the compulsory vaccination and the associated sanctions such as suspensions.
On the French mainland, this type of vaccination has been in place since mid-September. In Martinique and Guadeloupe, however, there is not only traditionally great distrust of the government in Paris, but also a low willingness to vaccinate.
Violent demonstrations and looting have occurred in Guadeloupe since November. The government in Paris has sent additional security forces to get the situation under control. After days of protests, some of which were violent, on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, the government in Paris was ready to start talks about autonomy for the overseas territory.