These protests were launched in cooperation with neighboring Guadeloupe labor unions against requirements from France made in mid-September 2020 to have a pass certifying COVID-19 vaccination for healthcare workers in order to have access to long-distance travel, restaurants, sports arenas, and other public venues, at penalty of suspension.
[3][4] The Rally for the Protection of Afro-Caribbean Peoples and Resources supported the demonstrations as part of an ongoing campaign to make food affordable and equitable in price for Martinique citizens.
[5] This culminated in gunfire from protesters that injured at least fourteen people, including eleven police officers and at least one citizen, and also resulted in several burned cars, fire-gutted buildings, and looted stores.
[6][7] In response to the defiance, the French government deployed the Companies for Republican Security to the island, an elite riot police unit that had been banned from the territory for over 65 years due to their violent and disproportionately forceful suppression of demonstrations that killed several young protesters in December 1959.
[6] On 10 October, in one of the deadliest days of the riots, at least one person was killed when demonstrators set fire to a police station, cars and road barricades as they clashed with officers.