The 1968 Mauritian riots or Bagarre raciale Plaine Verte refers to a number of violent clashes that occurred in the Port Louis neighbourhoods of Cité Martial, Bell Village, Roche Bois, St. Croix, Cité Martial and Plaine Verte as well as in the village of Madame Azor near Goodlands in Mauritius over a period of ten days, six weeks before the country's declaration of independence on 12 March 1968.
At the August 1967 elections eminent members of the Labour-CAM-IFB, such as Abdool Razack Mohamed and Michael Leal had lost their seats to their rivals of the PMSD.
At least 29 people died, 597 houses were looted, 246 homes were set on fire, and 700 families were displaced before British troops and unprepared Mauritian police quelled the fighting.
[8] Prior to the riots the neighbourhoods of Cité Martial and Plaine Verte had been ethnically mixed areas for over a hundred years.
[10][11] Order was restored by a company of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry called in from Singapore after a state of emergency was declared by Governor Sir John Shaw Rennie on 22 January 1968 and lasted for ten days.