Le Galleon: --- A small group of people gathered at the Le Galleon Beach yesterday afternoon giving support to a fisherman and his son who said a set of gendarmes attacked them and flung racial slurs at them.
Albert Cocks said that he and his son was outside of the Reserve catching fish to be used as baits when a few white men dressed in bathing suit in two canoes approached them and pulled their nets with their feet and placed the canoes inside of the nets. Cocks said his son told the men who turned out to be gendarmes from the brigade nautique that they have authorization from the Natural Reserve to fish.
He said the men refused to make contact with the reserve and his son had to push their canoe out of their nets which caused an argument. Cocks said the gendarme called his son a "black sheep" while another on tried to hit his son, but another fisherman intervened and told the men if they hit the young man then they would have to hit him too. 
Cocks said they are the ones who called Nicolas Malash who told the gendarmes that those men are authorized to fish since they are from the Association Pecher"s de Quartier".
Cocks said he felt the gendarmes have no respect for the local people and they acted rather rude. He said they plan to take the matter further with the realm of the law.
In the meantime, Ferdinand Glascow who went out in support of the villagers said the gendarmes need to concentrate on catching the criminals who are creating havoc on St. Martin. He said only yesterday the CADISCO gas station was robbed and the gendarmes allowed the thieves to run away, while they are busy harassing honest people who are trying to make a living.