Marigot destruction

Forgive me if this has been been discussed but we had a very scary encounter today. My husband and I headed to Mullet from Orient via Marigot and instead of bypassing the Marina side, my husband forgot to head left and we went to the right towards the Marina. No big deal, I thought, but I was so wrong.
We were met with barricade after barricade of stories high burnt out cars, buses, etc. impassable at certain places. We had to drive on the sidewalks to get by and at one point we came to a dead end. There were people all around and even though it was mid morning, we were frightened. Thankfully, a nice young man on a motorcycle led us out and we got through. I wish that I could have reached my phone to take a few pics but we were just so intent to get out of there. It looks like a war zone.
I don't know how those people are living like that. If I were new to St. Martin and happened upon that, I don't think I would come back. We were told that this occurred between Christmas and New Year.

Sounds like you were in Sandy Ground, which is not at all the place to be these days. I guess you haven't been following the recent unrest on the French side?

Yes during the strike

Obviously not. Can't imagine going anywhere near there again and don't know how they're going to remove all of that. Never understood how destroying where you live helps anything.

You know I would like to send those details to someone in authority there and with Carol's and OP's permission representing 100's of SXM officienados. I would like them to know what damage is being done to tourism and how its downright scaring the crap out of people and rightly so. Yes they probably know all of this but not from someone who doesn't even live there. Yes, the people have rights but from you have just described(which I thought had calmed down somewhat) this surely can't go on indefinately or at least through season. It concerns me that there are no controls in place so what will happen if and when it starts to get violent and people get maimed or killed. May sound ridiculous but this is how it starts when authority don't have the balls to step in.

Waste of time? I don't know but worth trying.

Kenny, anyone? Contact name, number?

Bran, I'm sorry but you may be overreacting and using a bit of hype? Maimed, killed?

This sounds like a scary experience by someone who was lost, no one is really sure where they were, no pictures were taken, etc.

We as tourists have no right or say in anything going on in French St. Martin. If you feel this way, your choice is not to visit.

Beach, calm down. This is what I said..."so what will happen if and when it starts to get violent and people get maimed or killed." IF being the major word. This isn't hype going on but bordering on what could be unless some action taken and soon..................................But, will end this topic now.

Ugly and unfortunate for sure. However, do you really think that authorities on the French side are not aware of the situation? Who would you like to get in contact with? Head of collectivite'? Prefect of St. Martin, Mr. Macron?

In France burning cars is a tradition. NYE over a thousand cars were lit on fire in France. The cars used in the protest that were set ablaze in SXM were mostly clunkers that should have been scrapped anyway. I have been lost driving in Harlem and do understand that everything looks like a war zone when you are lost. Happy New Decade!

What I find most alarming here is that there are people traveling abroad not paying attention to current events that have or are taking placing in the country they are visiting. This was not just a small isolated incident and such ignorance can lead to serious problems for the traveler.

Exactly.....those in power that you would notify are VERY well aware of the situation and, so far, have decided to leave the mess as it is.

Can you substantiate this statement? One picture I saw was cars burning in a parking lot and they appeared to have current plates on them.

I have not had the "warm and fuzzy" feeling with regard to the French side for several years. Add to this the episode we encountered with the scooters in French Quarter in Nov. and my choice will be to NOT support the French side in any manner.

A protest is one thing, destruction of property and scaring people and people making excuses for it do not get it with me.

We travel here twice a year and because it was during the holidays, we were extremely busy just trying to get away from our business. As I stated, my husband just didn't bear left when he should have. That being said, if it happened to us, it could've happened to anybody. I don't post that much specifically because of remarks like yours. We are not ignorant and I do take offense to that statement. There was some rioting here in August when we were here last but nothing to this extent.

Hard to tell as we were so anxious to just get around them but those that didn't burn completely didn't all look like clunkers.

dmwieser--that is a very unkind thing to say. And I would say that the vast majority here would agree with the proposition that SXM, in the past anyway, has certainly not been the kind of place where a person could get in serious danger for being unaware of local events.

This French "tradition" is relatively new, with the vast majority taking place in "no go" zones where fireman and police don't enter. Let's hope these "traditions" don't get transferred to sxm.

Just my take, but at this point , this is just fanning flames. To my knowledge there was no violence to humans, just protests and blocking of roads. Not saying that that was good. I would have turned around and gone back towards the causeway.