French Quarter Residents Furious with Reserve Naturelle.

tourist31032015Boulders and Trenches were placed at Le Galleon Beach to Hamper Easter Picnic.


Le Galion:--- Several residents of French Quarter and from other parts of the island had to rescue some tourists that were blocked in by the Naturelle Reserve Tuesday morning.
On the scene at Le Galion Beach the residents namely Junior and Mr. Brooks said that persons working at the Reserve Naturelle especially the department head who had to run from Ile de La Reunion would have to leave the island and go back to where he came from if he intends to destroy the culture of the St. Martin people.
Both French Quarter residents said a heavy equipment went to Le Galion Beach and place huge boulders at certain entrances and they even dug trenches in certain areas to hinder the local population from celebrating the Easter weekend.
"Can you imagine the workers of the Reserve Naturelle blocked in some tourists that are frequent visitors to the island and they could not get out from where they was. The man and his daughter got injured trying to remove the boulders in order to get out. Many of us here had to go to their rescue to open up a passage way for the tourists to get out, but by the time we were done the family were full of bruises and they were definitely upset with what happened to them. This is the Easter weekend coming up and you can see local families are already up here with their children starting to picnic and the Reserve Naturalle is trying to infringe on our culture. It seems as though they want to destroy families."
blockedin31032015

Mr. Brooks and Junior both of French Quarter said that the Reserve Naturelle is stopping the young boys from catching crabs in the area. "Our youths come here to catch crabs for their families and they also sell to get some pocket change and not even that they are allowed to do because the Reserve workers are stopping them. It seems to us that these people prefer our youngsters steal instead of working to make an honest living."
When SMN News reporter was leaving Le Galleon a worker from Reserve Naturelle was driving up to the beach where the incident with the tourist occurred. The worker said he made a tour of the area before the boulders were placed up and the trenches were dug. However, he could not say how the tourists were blocked in if he really toured the area prior to putting the boulders at the entrance where the tourists were blocked in.

 

 

 Click here to view more photos of Le Galion Beach Blockage