Passengers stranded as Martinique airport briefly shuts down amid protests
Protesters invaded the tarmac at Martinique's international airport on Thursday after hearing rumours that hundreds of French police were about to arrive by plane. The French Caribbean island has been gripped by days of violent protests over its high cost of living.
Hundreds of passengers were stranded in the French Caribbean island of Martinique on Friday after its airport was briefly forced to close because protesters overran the tarmac and tried to break in, the airport and local authorities said.
The overnight shutdown backed up flights, and officials at the airport urged stranded passengers to contact their airlines for information after the facility resumed operations by mid-morning.
French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said French authorities had regained control of the airport, which demonstrators targeted in the latest protest decrying a high cost of living. Retailleau added that reinforcements were being sent.
“We will reestablish order,” he said. But he added: “We also have to take into account” local people’s unhappiness about high prices.
“We have to do both,” he said.
Since Monday night, Martinique has been gripped by bouts of protests over the high cost of living 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.
Police securing the entrance were seen fending off assaults from the demonstrators and firing what appears to be tear gas in their direction, and the airport later said on Facebook that flights were suspended.
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