Rioters shoot man dead in Caribbean protests

A protester was shot dead on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe today as weeks of strikes turned into street violence.

The death was the first since protests broke out last month, and could mark a turning point in tensions that have spread to nearby Martinique and deeply worried the central government in Paris.

France’s Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie called a special meeting to discuss security on the islands, which are an integral part of France.

The protester, in his 50s, was apparently shot in his car by rioters manning barricades on a housing estate in Pointe-a-Pitre.

The victim, Jacques Bino, was a tax agent and union member returning home from protests.

It took police and emergency workers three hours to reach him because they too were shot at by rioters with hunting rifles.

Three police officers were injured in the overnight violence, one by a gunshot to the eye.

Paris has refused to budge on demands for higher pay, despite nearly four weeks of strikes and demonstrations.

Business leaders in Martinique agreed yesterday to a 20% cut on most supermarket products, despite initial refusals.

About 450,000 people live on Guadeloupe, a verdant hilly island with white-sand beaches.

Thousands of tourists have fled or cancelled holidays on the normally tranquil island, prompting many hotels to close and cruise ships to head elsewhere.

Behind much of the unrest in Guadeloupe and Martinique is resentment by Afro-Caribbeans, many of whom are descendants of slaves, that the vast majority of wealth and land is in the hands of offspring of colonists.

The leader of the protesters, Elie Domota, said the violence was prompted by police and accused them of harassing protesters with racist insults.

In Paris, the government minister for overseas territories Yves Jego said the protester was “assassinated by rioters”.

“We really need to have a truce in this violence,” he said after a cabinet meeting.