Protests for an Overseas French Department Spread Across the Caribbean



MyFoxDC.com reported that protesters have taken over a rally for the hard-working citizens of the French overseas territories and have turned into riots.

There was a disturbance in Slapolee, Saint Daniel Island, called Pembroke Village because of the nationality of the people. The St. Croix/Saint Croix City group of the French municipalities of Saint Croix and Saint Ville’s voted against a proposal to form an overseas department. They pushed to separate from St. Croix and Saint Croix City as a separate part of the French islands.

The fact that the French people are right in the middle of this divisive decision. They do not want to change the title of the nation island. They feel their heritage. They feel like they are the only French nation.

They do not want the French territories changed to the North American Territory within France but separate with their own name and their own constitution. The plan is for those two areas to create an overseas French department and Republic.

Now, there are riots spreading among the people in the St. Croix and Saint Ville’s areas.

Thousands of young people from throughout the French overseas are protesting in Notre Dame de Saint Vincent and the Virgin Islands, Saint Georges Island, Saint John’s Island, and Slapolee Village.

There were several persons injured in the riots. One person was killed, burned out of his house, knocked out by pepper spray.

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The island of St. Lucia is dealing with riots today as well. Homes burned and eleven people were hurt in the turmoil. It’s a total 4,000 square miles and 125 different islands for Saint Lucia.

These are the people you could imagine being brought up in a yuppie community in DC – Haitians from Haiti.

They decided to make this form of protest. They took themselves down to Kingston or to New York City and used the internet and social media to spread this message, calling for people to come down and protest today.

It got in the region of 5,000 or 6,000 and when the fire department arrived they started burning it to the ground in St. Lucia.

Here are more updates from The Associated Press:

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has condemned rioting and looting in Saint Lucia as a “gutter action” for a Caribbean community that is “repudiated and deplored” by his government.

Governor Kenneth Robinson in St. Lucia says there was looting in the Caribbean island’s capital of Castries. He told a nationally televised news conference Friday that there was also vandalism and fires.

The homeland of St. Lucia was already hit by two days of violence that left 11 people wounded by gunfire and shops and homes vandalized.

On Thursday, about 1,000 “foreigners” were on St. Lucia for a summit of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States. President Peter Mutharika of Malawi was hosting the summit, which was the largest OECS gathering to date.

He says the violence on the island’s major island stems from a failed attempt to bypass the island’s government.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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