# France Sends Long-Banned Riot Police to Martinique as Protests Defy Curfew
France has sent a special anti-riot police unit to Martinique after violent protests over living costs and social inequality spread across the French Caribbean island, the AP reported on Sept. 23, 2024. Thousands of people took to the streets despite a government ban on demonstrations in several municipalities and a curfew, and the elite Companies for Republican Security were already on the island by Sunday.
The deployment is unusual because the CRS has been banned in Martinique for 65 years, dating back to bloody riots in December 1959. The AP says the unit was accused then of using disproportionate force against protesters, leaving several young demonstrators dead. Bringing that force back to the island is therefore not just a policing decision but a politically loaded signal about how Paris views the unrest.
The immediate trigger was economic anger. Last week's protests turned violent, with gunfire injuring at least six police officers and one civilian, while police responded with tear gas and officials said several shops were looted. Authorities used the ban and curfew to try to stop what they described as violence and disruptions to daily life, but many residents treated the restrictions as one more reason to keep demonstrating.
On Saturday night, crowds marched peacefully, with local media video showing thousands walking along highways, banging drums and waving flags. That defiance matters because it undercuts any claim that the island was descending into generalized disorder. The protests were large, but according to the AP's description the main body of demonstrators remained peaceful even as the government pushed a hard-security response.
Local reaction to the deployment was sharply mixed. Martinique's leaders requested the forces amid the unrest, an acknowledgment that policing alone was not enough to restore calm. But socialist representative Beatrice Bellay argued that Martinique was not in a civil war and said the measure would only heighten tensions and distract from the demands being voiced by residents. Her criticism reflected a broader unease over how Paris handles the island's social and political grievances.
The immediate story is about police and protests, but the deeper issue is inequality. Martinique's cost-of-living dispute has become a test of how French authorities respond when colonial-era memories, economic pressure and street politics collide. The AP report shows that the government's answer was to send a banned riot unit and impose curfews, while demonstrators answered with mass marches. The result is a fragile standoff rather than a settled order.
