$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '&')quot;Guadeloupe is nearly exploding," said a protest leader, Elie Domota. He joined the government in calling for calm, but also blamed French government policies for the situation.
The strike for lower prices and higher salaries has shuttered stores and schools in Guadeloupe, which like Martinique is considered an integral part of France.
Strikers are demanding a €200, or $250, monthly raise for low-paid workers who now earn about €900 a month.
"I hear a land that is crying, a land that is ablaze and bloody," Victorin Lurel, president of Guadeloupe's regional council, said on France Info radio. "I am still hearing this same lack of responsibility, as if obtaining €200 were worth bringing the country to its knees."



