Fort-de-France Vandals burnt cars and looted shops in Martinique as violence spread to a second French Caribbean island in protests over high prices, low pay and alleged neglect by Paris. About twenty people were detained after the outburst in Fort-de-France, the capital.

Martinique has not suffered the same degree of violence as the nearby French island of Guadeloupe, where strikes degenerated last week into rioting in which a labour activist was shot dead. Business on both islands has been largely frozen.