Mauritian Spring gathers big crowd in the south of the Island

Mauritius is witnessing the second big rally which is taking place at the time of writing in the south of the Island near oil spill that caused the death of several dolphins weeks ago. In a heartbreaking’ event, 25 dolphins washed up dead in Mauritius weeks after the oil spill.

The spill, a major ecological disaster in Mauritius where pristine ocean water was polluted, was caused by the wreckage of a tanker on the coast of the Island. The Independent UK says more dolphins were found close to the shore, alive but in distress. The paper says they were carried into deeper waters by local inhabitants and the authorities.

SECOND BIG RALLY
Today’s rally is a follow-up of the massive rally held by a grouping campaigning for a cleaner environment and holding the authorities responsible for the mess caused by a shipwreck. They believe the authorities did not act swiftly to prevent an oil spill while a local newspaper,

Le Mauricien, says the ship the Wakashio was carrying tons of drugs destined for Mauritius. The second rally is taking place in Mahebourg and has gathered a huge crowd.

The participants are shouting ‘Bour li dehors’ or get rid of him in reference to the Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Jugnauth.

IN DENIAL
Jugnauth came on national television after the rally in Port Louis (held on Saturday 29 August) to dismiss calls for his resignation. He insists his government had done its best to save the beach and clean the sea of the oil spill.

Arguments that drew flak among the rally organisers and participants who are now on the streets again to pressure him to quit.

However, Jugnauth says he is the democratically elected PM of the country and do not have to listen to the minorities to resign. His government and its supporters say the rallies are only gathering a minority of Mauritians.

Some of Jugnauth’s supporters are saying the rally participants are mostly Christians and Muslims while they note the Hindu majority do not support their call for Jugnauth to resign.

WAKASHIO
Reports from our sources in Mauritius say the authorities is using old tactics to prevent the rally from soaring with demonstrators. On Aug 29, the government used the police force, says a source, to block some road leading to Port Louis.

This caused massive jams and disturbed the circulations towards the capital city.

“The plan was to prevent the crowd from inflating,” says the to WFTV.LIVE.

The Independent UK says around 100,000 protesters took to the streets of the capital Port Louis in Mauritius on Aug 29.

This was three weeks after an oil spill caused by the grounding of the cargo ship and days after dozens of dolphins were found dead. “Marchers, dressed in black, held placards with drawings of dolphins or stating “citoyen leve citoyen” (citizens wake up citizens) and others waved Mauritian flags as they walked peacefully through the capital.

Several statues, including one of Queen Victoria, were also wrapped in the Mauritian flag,” it says.

The Japanese operator of Wakashio pledged Friday to pay at least $9.4 million to help fix damage caused by the spill. Mitsui OSK Lines said in a statement that it planned “to contribute a total fund of about one billion Japanese yen over several years to support measures” to restore the marine environment.

The measures include running mangrove and coral protection projects in partnership with experts and local NGOs, and setting up an environment recovery fund, it says.