France's poorest department has seen a series of clashes between rival gangs in recent days, with one person having been killed. Crime is rising on the island and public safety is deteriorating. One local MP, who believes that immigration is the underlying cause, has called on the French government to restore the rule of law on the island.

Recently, public security has deteriorated at an astonishingly rapid pace, and crime has risen sharply in France’s poorest department, the overseas island of Mayotte. On 12 November, a 20-year-old young man was slaughtered in a machete attack. The incident unleashed a wave of violence with clashes between two rival gangs from two districts at feud.

According to press reports, the gang members tend to be increasingly young: it is not uncommon for ten-year-old children to take part in the clashes. In many instances, they receive guns, bags filled with stones and machetes from their own families, Le Figaro writes in an article.

There have been several violent assaults of late, including stabbings causing serious injuries, and rioters have also attacked school buses, the local French paper Le Dauphine Libere reports, citing police sources. On 15 November, an attacker armed with a machete cut off his victim’s hand on board a school bus.

The island is on the brink of civil war, local MP Estelle Youssouffa said in response to the incidents. Speaking in France 2’s Telematin programme, the politician emphasized that the situation has worsened to a point when children travelling on school buses are being attacked. What more do we need for the French state to take action, she asked, adding that when local representatives are talking about an emergency situation requiring military intervention, then that’s an extremely serious situation. She called for immediate action.

„On attaque nos enfants á la machette dans les bus scolaires ! Que faut-il de plus pour que l’Etat réagisse ?”

🚨🗣 La députée de Mayotte Estelle Youssouffa réclame un „choc de souveraineté” sur l’île. #Telematin pic.twitter.com/0yBBxfMB3J

— Telematin (@telematin) November 25, 2022

The representative clearly blames immigration for the rise in crime and the deterioration of public security on the island, as illegal migrants have been arriving in large numbers from the neighbouring Comoro Islands for almost two decades now, attracted by the free healthcare and education available on the island. The island is facing a real demographic time bomb, and promises are not enough to solve the problem, the politician said, calling on the French government to restore the rule of law on Mayotte.

„On est face á un bombe démographique. Et ce ne sont pas les belles promesses á Paris qui changent notre quotidien”

🇾🇹🗣 La députée de Mayotte Estelle Youssouffa demande le retour de l’état de droit sur l’île. #Telematin pic.twitter.com/TyBICLfcQs

— Telematin (@telematin) November 25, 2022

The island is being terrorised by hordes of young people, whose livelihood is looting, but this is not the only problem. The newspaper highlights that, according to the locals, the extreme poverty and existential insecurity affecting the island’s inhabitants is to blame for the acts of violence. These conditions incite violence among minors, who make up 50 per cent of the island’s population.

Data by the French statistics office INSEE , shows poverty on the island is truly staggering, with the average standard of living at seven times lower than the national level. According to the report, as a result of the waves of migration, most of the population has very few resources, 77 per cent live below the national poverty line, which is five times more than the figure for continental France. Mayotte is by far the poorest French department, where in 2018 the living standard of half of the population was below 3,140 euros per year.