The Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin ordered on Wednesday evening the establishment for two months of a curfew for those under 18 in Pointe-à-Pitre in order to fight against an outbreak of delinquency in the prefecture of Guadeloupe .
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At the end of March, the mayor of Pointe-à-Pitre Harri Durimel (EELV) described the city as “ cutthroat “, in “ total bankruptcy “. On the move in Guadeloupe, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin therefore ordered on Wednesday evening the establishment of a curfew for two months for those under 18 to try to stem the phenomenon in the city. The measure “will apply from the start of next week” in order to fight against “delinquency which […] is younger and younger, and more and more armed », declared Gérald Darmanin during a press conference in Pointe-à-Pitre, where he is traveling. This measure will be effective in the evenings, from 8 p.m. “ We cannot allow children of 12, 13, 14 years old, with weapons, to circulate in the street at 10 p.m., attack police officers, attack tourists, attack passers-by “, he added.
Mayor Harry Durimel, elected since 2020, welcomed the announcement by the Minister of the Interior made after a meeting with the Minister Delegate responsible for Overseas Marie Guévenoux, the prefect and himself. “ This is something concrete “, he reacted. “ Before, it was 12% of minors in the commission of crimes and now it is 38% of criminal acts “, he detailed. “ If the children are at their parents’ house at night, they are not going to burn 70 trash cans like they did in Pointe-à-Pitre last week “, he estimated.
On March 24, in a context of urban violence and a series of acts of armed violence, sometimes fatal, he threatened to resign. “ I feel like the cry I uttered a few weeks ago has been heard “, he declared to AFP, raising the possibility of “ make Pointe-à-Pitre, a small territory of 2.6 km2, a laboratory of republican security “.
“ Net equity operations »
According to the prefecture of Guadeloupe, the archipelago has “ six times more homicides, nine times more attempted homicides – half by firearms – and 20 times more armed robberies than the national average “. In recent months, Pointe-à-Pitre – 14,500 inhabitants in 2020 – has largely fueled the chronicle of news items. In March, a shopkeeper was killed there during a robbery. Tourists on a cruise were stabbed by a woman with psychiatric disorders.
A series of measures to strengthen the fight against delinquency will accompany the curfew. Gérald Darmanin thus announced for next month “ net operations to fight against drugs, against drug dealing points and the circulation of weapons, which is undoubtedly the main problem facing Guadeloupe today “.
A “ new security contract in Guadeloupe » will also be put in place, like what was done in Martinique and “ which works well, which has reduced delinquency “, according to him.
The minister also mentioned “ international cooperation » with the neighboring islands of Saint Lucia and Dominica for “ fight against illegal immigration, the circulation of arms, drug trafficking “. He also announced the presence of more than “ video protection cameras “, connected “ to police supervision centers “.