FORT DE FRANCE, Martinique, CMC – At least three planes were diverted to nearby Guadeloupe, as protestors forced the shutdown of the international airport on Thursday night on the French island of Martinique.
Three planes carrying some 1,000 passengers had to be diverted to Guadeloupe the local prefecture said in its statement, adding that another 500 passengers who were supposed to board those flights were stuck at the Fort-de-France (FDF) airport.
The protestors decrying a high cost of living on the island, overran the tarmac, following “rumors” spread on social media about the imminent arrival of hundreds of French police officers by plane.
“This completely false information is at the origin of groupings and the invasion of the airport runway,” the prefecture said in the statement.
Last month, a group of special anti-riot police arrived from France to deal with protests in the French-speaking Caribbean country where violent protests erupted with gunfire injuring at least six police officers and one civilian.
The elite riot police, known as the Companies for Republican Security, were banned in the French territory following bloody riots in December 1959.
They had been accused of using disproportionate force against protesters, ending in the deaths of a number of young demonstrators.
The force is rarely deployed in French territories in the Caribbean, but was called on during riots and strikes in Guadeloupe in 2009.
French Interior Minister, Bruno Retailleau, said the authorities had since regained control of the airport, adding that reinforcements were being sent.
“We will reestablish order,” he said, acknowledging that the authorities also have to take into account the unhappiness of the population regarding the high prices.
“We have to do both,” he said.
The shutdown resulted in flights being backed up and airport officials urged stranded passengers to contact their airlines for information after the facility resumed operations by mid-morning.
Martinique has been gripped by bouts of protests over the high cost of living, estimated at 40 per cent, that turned violent, with at least one person killed as demonstrators set fire to a police station, cars and road barricades and clashed with officers.
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