FORT-DE-FRANCE, Martinique — Strikes that have nearly frozen everyday life on France’s Caribbean islands burst into clashes on Monday as police battled protesters angry at high prices and resentful of a tiny white elite on lands better known for beach-side vacations.
Police detained about 50 people after coming under a barrage of stones as they tried to take down barricades on the island of Guadeloupe, said Nicolas Desforges, the island’s top government official.
Strikers were sprayed with tear gas and several, including union leader Alex Lollia, were injured, France’s leftist NPA party said in a statement.
On the sister island of Martinique, 100 miles south of Guadeloupe, police said that as many as 10,000 demonstrators marched through the narrow streets of the capital to protest spiraling food prices and denounce the business elite. Government offices, schools, banks and stores have been shuttered for most of the past 12 days.
