The port of Longoni in the French overseas territory of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean was blockaded on Monday by protesters expressing their discontent with the government.
Members of the group Forces Living on Mayotte, who complain about illegal migration and inadequate security measures on the island, shut down the region’s main port to make their views known to the government, local media reported.
The French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME) says the port of Longoni supplies 65 per cent of the region’s food needs.
Protesters blocked the supply of goods from the port to the island, and port authorities reported an increase in the number of containers waiting at the dock due to the inability to unload cargo. Members of the collective also set up barricades at various points on the island.
Collective spokesperson Abdou Badirou said regarding the closure of the port that if the economic centre of the island was threatened, the response of the authorities would be appropriate. He noted:
For the past three weeks, we have been setting up barricades at intersections and public areas, but we have not yet received a response from the government.
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin visited Mayotte on Sunday and announced an end to territorial citizenship due to the island’s migration problem. Darmanin said, claiming that this will help solve the migration problem on the island, which is particularly high due to migrant flows from neighboring Comoros Islands:
French citizenship will not be granted to Mayotte residents unless they are children of French parents.
Mayotte is at the centre of attention due to water shortages and violent incidents. It was previously reported that soldiers have been distributing bottled drinking water for more than four months due to water shortages on the island.
In late October last year, violent clashes between gangs erupted on the island. For weeks, the capital Mamoudzou was surrounded by gang barricades and access to the city from outside was blocked.The violence spread to different parts of the island.
Mayotte lawmakers said a security crisis was unfolding on the island and appealed to the French government for help.
The state has used the island as a military base for centuries, ignoring the local population, which is constitutionally equal to Parisians. Farmers in mainland France also keep a close eye on the region’s problems, having long felt the inequitable distribution of wealth and the danger of uncontrolled immigration.
