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The 1975 Mauritian student protest riots refer to a students' protest marches which turned violent in various parts of the island of Mauritius, Indian Ocean on Tuesday 20 May 1975.
Following detailed planning by high-school student activists groups of students from various private and state schools abandoned classrooms and went on strike by heading to the streets of the main towns where most secondary schools were located. They marched peacefully from the inland towns of Curepipe, Vacoas, Quatre-Bornes, Rose Hill, Beau Bassin and other parts of the island in order to head towards the capital city Port Louis. The main objectives of the student activists during the rally [1] consisted of the following:
By the time that the student marchers had gone past the town of Beau Bassin the crowd had reached significant size. At the historic bridge of Grand River North West (GRNW) near La Tour Koenig local police prevented the crowd from progressing towards the capital city of Port Louis. Besides elements of Police Riot Unit (PRU) had arrived on site and soon there was a crack-down using tear gas and batons against unarmed student protesters. [3] Several students were also arrested.
Several shops (such as the ones on Desforges and Leoville L’Homme Streets in the capital Port Louis) and buses near the rally were damaged. [4] An angry crowd ransacked the home of a prominent PMSD member of Parliament and member of the ruling alliance M.H. Ythier. Later that day at New Eton College in Rose Hill around fifty students were arrested after an intervention by the Police Riot Unit which attempted to disperse a gathering there. [5] By 21 May 1975 the press reported that police had made 118 arrests. In addition to the looted shops there were reports of 40 damaged buses and 4 buses had been destroyed by arsonists. [6]
The government was preparing to prosecute the arrested protesters under provisions of Sections 17 and 48 of the Public Order Act (POA). In response a hunger strike was organised by a group of students and after ten days the charges were dropped. [7]
There had been mounting discontent amongst the young adults and students due to increasing unemployment and high cost of living. Besides tropical cyclone Gervaise had damaged many schools which had already been suffering from poorly equipped laboratories and libraries and a lack of sporting infrastructure. [8] In February 1975 students at London College (Mauritius) had protested against the dismissal of two teachers. [9] The Labour-IFB-CAM coalition had been in power since the 1967 elections and after the March 1968 Independence celebrations the IFB dropped out of the coalition in 1969 and ended up in Opposition. To maintain power and a majority of seats in Parliament the leader of Labour Party (Mauritius) struck a new deal with its rival PMSD which resulted in Labour-CAM-PMSD coalition ruling the country. [10] Within PMSD several figures were against this deal and that splinter group formed a new party UDM. Although elections were scheduled to occur in 1972 Labour and what was left of the original PMSD amended the Constitution via a Bill which postponed the 1972 elections to 1976. Meanwhile the new party Mouvement Militant Mauricien (MMM) had gained popularity, even electing its first ever candidate Dev Virahsawmy to Parliament at the September 1970 by-elections at Constituency No.5 as he won the seat previously held by a ruling IFB's deceased candidate Lall Jugnauth.
On 25 November 1971 the MMM political activist Azor Adelaide was shot dead by a gang of rival activists in the centre of the town of Curepipe near the intersection of Royal Road and Rue Chasteauneuf. Azor was travelling with in Dev Virahsawmy's car [11] as they prepared to meet Paul Berenger to install some posters regarding an upcoming public gathering. [12] This followed a previous attempt [13] to assassinate MMM leader Paul Berenger during which his assistant Fareed Muttur died in suspicious circumstances after a car accident on 1 October 1971. [14] [15] Another example of political violence was the attack on student activist and MMM sympathiser Raja Bhadain who was stabbed by a PMSD thug [16] wielding scissors at a public gathering. [17]
MMM had collaborated with various trade unions such as GWF to organise strikes throughout the island. As a result 12 Trade Union leaders and most leaders of MMM were jailed for 9 months until December 1972. [18] State of Emergency was declared in 1971 and the Public Order Act (POA 1973) was enforced. Later in 1975 the State of Emergency was lifted in preparation for the 1976 elections. [19]
For several years prior to 1975 students from various secondary schools such as John Kennedy College (JKC), Queen Elizabeth College, Mauritius (QEC), New Eton College, Royal College Curepipe (RCC), and Royal College Port Louis (RCPL) had gathered at various student events where debates were held about the need to overhaul the educational system amongst other social and political issues. These events included the "cClubs". Other movements like the "Front National pour la Libération des Etudiants "(FNLE) and the Student Club assisted in the effort. [20]
The May 1975 Students protest and riots resulted in significant changes in the educational system of the island. [21] Following the 1976 General Elections the Labour-CAM-PMSD coalition government granted "Free Education" by eliminating the compulsory monthly school fees. It also undertook a reform of the secondary school sector in line with the objectives of the 20 May 1975 student protest and also included the following improvements:
Sir Anerood Jugnauth, GCSK, PV, was a Mauritian statesman, politician and barrister who served both as President and Prime Minister of Mauritius. He was Member of Parliament for Piton & Riviere Du Rempart. A central figure of Mauritian politics in the 1980s and 1990s, he was Leader of the Opposition from 1976 to 1982. He served four consecutive terms as prime minister from 1982 to 1995 and again from 2000 to 2003. He was then elected as President from 2003 to 2012. Following his party's victory in the 2014 general elections, he served his sixth and final term as prime minister, becoming the nation's longest serving prime minister with more than 18 years of tenure, overtaking Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, who held the office for 14 years.
Paul Raymond Bérenger is a Mauritian politician who was Prime Minister of Mauritius from 2003 to 2005. He has been Leader of the Opposition on several occasions – from 1983 to 1987, 1997 to 2000, 2005 to 2006, 2007 to 2013, October 2013 to 15 September 2014, and again from December 2014 to December 2016 when he was replaced by Xavier-Luc Duval. Following his party's defeat in the 2014 general elections, he became Leader of the Opposition for the sixth time, making him the longest ever to serve in this constitutional position. He was also deputy prime minister from 1995 to 1997 and again from 2000 to 2003, and he was a cabinet minister in the government of Anerood Jugnauth in 1982 and 1991. Bérenger, a Christian of Franco-Mauritian descent, has been the only non-Hindu prime minister of Mauritius, or, more particularly, the only prime minister who has not belonged to the Jugnauth or Ramgoolam families.
Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, often referred to as Chacha Ramgoolam or SSR, was a Mauritian physician, politician, and statesman. He served as the island's only chief minister, first prime minister, and fifth governor-general.
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Since 1967, Mauritius has experienced 12 free and fair democratic general elections to choose a government.
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Sir Charles Gaëtan Duval QC was a barrister, statesman and politician from Mauritius who was the leader of the Parti Mauricien Social Démocrate (PMSD) political party.
The New Eton College (NEC) was founded in 1932 and is a private secondary school in Rose Hill, Mauritius. It provides education to the boys of Rose Hill and surrounding regions.
Harisun Boodhoo more commonly known as Harish Boodhoo, is a Mauritian political figure who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Mauritius from 11 June 1982 to 21 August 1983. He was elected Member of Parliament (MP) in 1976, 1982 and 1983 in Rivière des Anguilles and Souillac.
The Mouvement Militant Mauricien Socialiste Progressiste (MMMSP) is a political party on the island of Mauritius.
Azor Adélaïde, also known as Azor Adelaide, was a Mauritian Creole political activist who was shot and assassinated along Chasteauneuf Road in the town of Curepipe, Mauritius on 25 November 1971. Although witnesses have provided detailed accounts of the murder it remains unsolved.
The Independent Forward Bloc (IFB) was a political party in Mauritius.
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