Please read our reporters' notebook from Martinique

Watch our Face Off debate France: a revolt overseas?

Broken shop windows, burnt cars and road blocks… In the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe the “pacifist march” launched on January 20 turned sour on Monday and Tuesday as activists, thugs and police fought each other on the streets.

“We are on the brink of sedition. The [protest movement] is becoming more radical, more extreme,” said Victorin Lurel, a local Socialist MP in an interview on France Info. “It feels like there’s a power vacuum here, and a sort of indifference,” he added.

Overnight on Monday, violent incidents took place in several cities on the island. Masked thugs threw stones and Molotov cocktails on police forces. Eighteen people were detained.

“The [protesters] are young people from Guadeloupe who are desperate because neither the state and nor local authorities have managed to address the lack of jobs on the island,” said Elie Domota, leader of the LKP, a protest movement against fat profits and the spiralling cost of living. He says the clashes were “predictable”.

Heavy-handed evacuation of road blocks

On Monday, the authorities evacuated – sometimes during heavy-handed interventions –  LKP activists who had set up road blocks. About 50 protesters were briefly detained following demonstrations in front of the police station in the island’s main town of Pointe-à-Pitre.

Demonstrators gather at Fort-de-France Upbeat music - it's not carnival but drums are traditional in demos "Hyper-president, hyper-absent - has he lost his tongue?" read the banners. Many in Martinique don't understand why their president in Paris has stayed silent for so long Members of the 'Collectif 5 fevrier' - the organisation of unions leading the strike Over 10,000 took to the streets to demonstrate on what was the 12th day of a national strike For some, the arrival of the euro in 2001 has only made matters worse Reporter Willy Bracciano among the crowds of protestors Members of the union group 'Collectif 5 fevrier' Protestors are in a postive mood Photos by FRANCE 24 reporters Eve Irvine and Willy Bracciano

Instead of staging yet another demonstration, as they had done for much of their month-long strike against high prices and low wages, protesters set up barricades on the island’s main roads. Despite their expedite evacuation, demonstrators once again blocked roads on Tuesday morning, in response to an LKP call to carry on the fight.

After a night of violent incidents, Nicolas Desforges, Guadeloupe prefect and the highest representative of the French state on the island, called on Domota to discuss “a call to calm.”

On Thursday, Nicolas Sarkozy will meet local overseas representatives and MPs to discuss the situation and try to find a solution to this exceptionally long conflict that has spread to other French overseas territories.