Urban violence, mainly at night, has been shaking several municipalities in Guadeloupe for several days while barricades and roadblocks have been erected in Pointe-à-Pitre where Mayor Harry Durimel threatened to “put his apron back on” on Sunday, deploring the lack of resources. Several “dams” have been erected since Thursday evening in different municipalities of the overseas archipelago plagued by violence, the territorial director of the national police of Guadeloupe, Christophe Gavat, confirmed to AFP.
“Pointe-à-Pitre as it stands is a cut-throat”
This week, police interventions took place in the towns of Capesterre-Belle-Eau and Basse-Terre where people set fire to barricades made with “trash cans, old household appliances or car wrecks”, according to the Directorate of the national police (DTPN) which specifies that “four young people were arrested” in Basse-Terre. In Lamentin, in the north of Basse-Terre, a gendarmerie source indicated that clashes had pitted around twenty gendarmes against groups of “hooded young people” who threw projectiles at them, notably “stones and bottles”. near a high school Thursday and Friday morning.
According to Christophe Gavat, “since Friday evening”, several sectors of Pointe-à-Pitre have been “affected” and the prefecture has announced the deployment of 30 additional police officers in the town. “Pointe-à-Pitre as it stands is a cutthroat. Without law enforcement up to the challenges,” Harry Durimel told the press, denouncing “guerrilla warfare” and the involvement of “minors” . “If I have the means I continue, if I don’t have the means I stop!”, he added.
Firearms circulating more and more
On Wednesday, five people were injured in a series of attacks committed by a woman armed with a knife and a broken bottle in the center of Pointe-à-Pitre, the prosecution indicated, and on March 16, a restaurateur was shot and killed during a robbery. In Guadeloupe, the rate of homicides per 100,000 inhabitants reached 9.4 in 2023, an increase of 33.3% compared to the previous year in this department where, as in Martinique, firearms are increasingly circulating. more, according to several police sources.
In Pointe-à-Pitre, in one year, the percentage of minors involved in criminal and misdemeanor cases has notably tripled, peaking, in the first months of 2024, at 38%, according to the latest delinquency report recently presented by the law enforcement.