Mauritius declares partial curfew after violent protests

The government of Mauritius declared a curfew from Tuesday evening to Wednesday morning on about a third of the island due to demonstrations that engulfed it after a police officer seriously injured a woman by gunfire.

Mauritius has been agitated for several days by demonstrations against the water shortage affecting the territory for around two weeks, but also against the increase in the cost of living. “My message is clear and uncompromising: we will identify the instigators and all those who are acting against the interest of the country and they will have to answer,” said Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam, to justify this curfew. “Those who committed actions will have to suffer the very heavy consequences that their unpatriotic actions justify,” he continued. Ten administrative regions, especially on the outskirts of cities and which correspond to approximately a third of the territory of Mauritius, are affected by the curfew.

Skip the ad

Violent demonstrations observed

The accused police officer, who according to witnesses shot a woman in the neck without warning, was arrested and brought to justice. The victim is still hospitalized, but the bullet was removed by a team of Indian surgeons dispatched to Mauritius to save him, according to local media. The demonstrations had started before this shooting by blocking roads with burning tires, which the police had been called to disperse. After the incident, some looting was recorded, notably of two supermarkets, and police stations were attacked, injuring several police officers.

The British embassy in Mauritius called on its nationals to “stay away from demonstrations”, which it said could continue. According to the British authorities, many schools will be closed on Wednesday. The French embassy in Mauritius also asked the French community to “exercise caution”. No outbreak of violence has been reported since the start of the curfew, an AFP correspondent noted Tuesday evening.

Mauritius, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean seen as a model of stability and prosperity on the African continent, and whose GDP per capita is one of the highest in Africa, had already experienced riots in 1999, after the death of a singer in cell. The country has experienced remarkable growth since its independence from the United Kingdom in 1968. Its economy, once mainly agricultural and centered on sugar production, has diversified and is now driven by tourism - the islands have pristine beaches and coral reefs - textiles and the financial sector. Mauritius even briefly achieved high-income country status in 2020, before its economy was hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic.