Despite the calls for dialogue made on Tuesday by Prime Minister Jean Castex, the first measures were aimed at reinforcing police deployment, with 50 agents of the National Gendarmerie Intervention Group and 200 police officers, so the total number of troops deployed amounted to 2,250.

Darmanin warned that the restoration of public order is the “prerequisite for any debate” and “the response of the State is firm”. “More than 90 arrests” and more than 60 people sent to prison have been counted in the last few hours, he told France Inter.

The protests, which began on November 15, originated in the criticism to the health crisis management Paris is carrying out in Guadeloupe, and the explosive socio-economic situation of its inhabitants, with a third of the population living in poverty and almost 20 percent of unemployment.

As for socio-economic issues, Minister for Overseas France, Sebastien Lecornu, will be responsible for establishing aid measures, said Castex, but for this, the priority “must be the return to calm” and the end of violence, shown in aggressions and looting.

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