Electric power was restored on Saturday October 26 to two thirds of customers on the French island of Guadeloupe, almost 24 hours after a widespread outage which plunged the entire archipelago into darkness following a social conflict, announced the electricity company EDF.
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The authorities accused the strikers of being the authors of this general blackout by cutting off the engines of the Jarry power station, which provides almost all of the electricity in the territory of nearly 380,000 inhabitants.
According to EDF, the teams who worked all night from Friday to Saturday, “ replenished with electricity 149 500 customers, or 65% » of people impacted, but 80,500 subscribers were still without power.
“ The electrical re-supply of homes is done gradually to ensure the stability of the electrical network », Specifies EDF in a press release.
However, the prefecture has decided to keep the archipelago under curfew until 6:00 a.m. local time, “ in order to guarantee security and tranquility “.
The president of this French department, Guy Losbar, said he was outraged by this general blackout. “ No salary demand, however legitimate, can justify such actions with catastrophic consequences. “, he wrote in a press release.
During the night from Thursday to Friday, several incidents of urban violence (barricades and burning trash cans) were noted in different municipalities in the archipelago, AFP learned from the gendarmerie.
Since September 15, a wage dispute has opposed the CGT union and the management of EDF Island Electric Production.
On the archipelago, the announcement of this widespread outage caused some concern, particularly concerning the distribution of water and the operation of the hospital.
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