2017 social unrest in French Guiana

2017 social unrest in French Guiana is a series of protests and strikes led by the "Collective of 500 Brothers" to highlight the issues of insecurity and infrastructure in French Guiana, France. It began on March 20, 2017 in Kourou, and spread all over French Guiana within a few days. Several international rocket and satellite launches were postponed, and March 28 saw the largest demonstration ever held in French Guiana. The protesters asked for more resources, but turned down a government pledge of €1 billion in infrastructure. Labor union leaders and three local politicians occupied the Guiana Space Centre on April 4-5, 2017. Supermarkets no longer sold fresh products due to road blocks in April 2017. The strikes became an issue in the 2017 French presidential election.

French Guiana is fraught with tensions between different communities (indigenous peoples, descendants of African slaves, immigrants from Brazil, Suriname and Haiti, and Europeans) as well as an economic crisis and a rise in insecurity. Per capita income at €15,000 is lower than mainland France; the unemployment rate is 23 percent and more than 40 percent for 18-to-25-year-olds; the cost of living is higher than in mainland France due to the need to import most goods and EU-sanctioned tariffs with neighboring Brazil and Suriname; foreign nationals are 35 percent as opposed to 6.5 percent in mainland France; and the murder rate is the highest anywhere in France with 42 homicides in 2016. Moreover, the consumption of illicit drugs like cannabis, cocaine and crack, is very high. Cayenne is also a hub of drug-trafficking; in 2016, 371 drug-traffickers were arrested on flights to Europe.

The strikes are led by the "Collective of 500 Brothers", a group of men who wear balaclavas. They are meant to expose the rise in insecurity, the deterioration of access to health care, the rise in illicit gold placer mining, and illegal immigration.

The strikes began in Kourou on March 20, 2017, to oppose the privatization of a hospital run by the Red Cross and the rise in insecurity. Within a few days, they spread to Cayenne and Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, followed by Maripasoula and Papaichton.

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