Fort-de-France municipal order restricting nighttime business hours in Terres-Sainville, Digi Mart USA News (Fort-de-France, Martinique): Following a bloody weekend marked by three fatal firearm killings, Fort-de-France Mayor Didier Laguerre held a public meeting on Tuesday evening, November 10, at the Tiers-Lieux in Terres-Sainville. The meeting concerned a municipal order taking effect that same evening, restricting nighttime activity for one month, renewable.
The weekend violence left a 20-year-old female student and two men dead, and three other people, including the student’s mother, were wounded. The mayor said the order was signed in response to that toll.
Addressing protests from several attendees, Laguerre stated at the outset: “This is not a curfew. I do not have the power to impose a curfew.”
The order requires all shops to close at 8 p.m. and restaurants, bars and snack bars to close at 11 p.m.
Health care professionals are exempt. The restricted area extends from the Cour Fruit-à-pain along Avenue Paulette Nardal, along the Levassor canal, to Boulevard du Général de Gaulle, and from Rue du Pavé to the Rocade, including Avenue Abbé Lavigne, Avenue Jean-Jaurès up to Boulevard du Général de Gaulle, the Asile market area and the Lafcadio-Hearn parking lot.
Laguerre said the measure had been in preparation since July and continues a strict ban on issuing new Category 4 licenses in the neighborhood.
Frustration and anxiety among merchants were evident in the room. Many said they were being unfairly penalized by a decision made without prior consultation, arriving at the worst possible time before the year-end holidays.
Several speakers argued that the violence did not originate from their businesses and that forced closures would solve nothing. “When we are closed, the guys are still on the street corners,” one participant said.
Others raised the recurring problem of debts, with some citing amounts as high as 200,000 euros, which they said would explain why criminals do not hesitate to collect regardless of place or time. Another participant asked, “What time do the criminals close?” and was met with approval from the room.
For the mayor, the goal is to break the sense of impunity that fuels crime, limit street gathering points and make the National Police’s patrol work easier. Some merchants regretted that a blanket measure affects the whole neighborhood when, in their view, tensions are concentrated on four specific streets.
Participants also voiced concern that the problem could shift toward the city center. The meeting closed with a general demand for a more visible police presence to deter crime.
