Guérilla The archipelago has been rocked by scenes of chaos since the death of a youth on November 12, beaten with machetes by youths from a rival district
The Raid is expected this Tuesday in Mayotte to strengthen law enforcement. — Gregoire MEROT/AFP
- The night from Monday to Tuesday was again marked by violence in Mayotte. Clashes between rival gangs flared up after the death of a 20-year-old youth on November 12 and the attack on a school bus on November 16.
- MP for Mayotte denounces “general indifference” in the face of the “cycle of vendetta” on the island.
- 20 Minutes looks back on the violence that is shaking Mayotte when ten Raid police officers are expected on the island this Tuesday.
On the spot, residents describe scenes of “chaos”. This Tuesday, the deputy of Mayotte, Estelle Youssouffa, launched a “cry of distress” on the “cycle of vendetta”, “barbarism and terror” which rages on the island and this, in “general indifference” to Paris. The archipelago is indeed shaken. for ten days by a wave of violence between rival gangs, described as “guerrilla” by a policeman on the spot. “Residents armed themselves with iron bars and machetes to defend themselves against the gangs,” another police source added. And the night of Monday at; Tuesday was not calmer. 20 Minutes takes stock of what is happening in this French department of the Indian Ocean.
What happened? tonight Mayotte?
In the north of the city of Mamoudzou, the largest in Mayotte, between the districts of Kawéni and Majikavo, the police insisted on apart several groups who wanted to fight each other. Turning back, small groups took advantage of it. to assault road users, according to witnesses. In Cavani, the urban center of the city, a group of young people sought the confrontation with the police and drew up a roadblock on fire near the court.
Sunday, already, a motorist had been stabbed to Mtsapéréé Bonovo, another district of Mamoudzou, according to a police source.
When did the tensions start?
Kawéni, which has the largest concentration of businesses and schools, as well as the largest shantytown in the department, was set ablaze. after the death of a 20-year-old boy from this village on November 12. He was traveling at scooter when he would have crossed the route of a gang from a rival village to his, whose members were drunk and armed with machetes. He received numerous blows from machetes, several of which were the head. His death caused unrest during the day on Sunday.
The sector has gone downhill. again ablaze Wednesday, November 16, after the attack on a school bus. It has been rocks, then several people climbed upstairs. on board, beating the driver and the driver with machetes. four students, who were wounded without their vital prognosis being engaged. This attack caused scenes of chaos: flaming barrages, throwing projectiles of all kinds. “It’s been a war zone,” villagers. Saturday, 200 &; 250 young people from Kawéni met to fight it out with those from the Doujani district, further south, according to the police.
“The difference from usual is that the violence wasn’t just happened. a fixed place, this weekend, Mamoudzou was burning everywhere,” said Abdel Aziz Sakhi, zonal secretary of the Alternative police union. “The youngsters numbered around 100 to to face us, to rubbing their machetes on the ground to show that they wanted to do battle with us. They attacked, we had to fall back… Then, we had no choice but to force the roadblock, to rush with our vehicles to disperse them,” continues the “completely exhausted” policeman.
How to end this violence?
Faced with the violence, Gérald Darmanin announced the dispatch of ten Raid policemen, the unit; elite of the police, to reinforce the forces of order on the spot. They must land this Tuesday at; Mayotte. Ambdilwahédou Soumaila, the mayor of Mamoudzou, denounces the fact that “for fifteen years, Mayotte, the island of perfumes [has] become the island of hell”. He demands that the Raid reinforcements remain “until” that the Republic regains its rights.” It’s no longer, he said, just “doing policing”. “We have to fight them, get them there; where they are in the slums, the remote neighborhoods, catch them and bring them to justice,” he pleads.
our file on mayotte
On a visit in August, Gérald Darmanin had promised gendarmerie reinforcements, which should be available in the summer. next and evoked; proposals to come to open “places of rehabilitation and recovery” for juvenile offenders, supervised by soldiers.
The archipelago, a regular scene of clashes between gangs or with the police, knows much higher crime than in mainland France. The number of complaints for burglary is four times higher there, and the physical assaults are much more violent. This insecurity feeds on great poverty: 194,000 Mahorais, or 74% of the population, live with a standard of living below 50%. 50% of the national median, according to INSEE.