AP: (Murdered Union) Activist's funeral turns into demonstration (for higher wages and respect)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jmweJ8SzMduOZH3iKJMPyKFo2Y5wD96GTF200

By JONATHAN M. KATZ – 2 hours ago

PETIT-CANAL, Guadeloupe (AP) — About 3,000 mourners on Sunday turned the funeral for a labor-union activist killed in Guadeloupe into a political demonstration, calling out for higher wages and respect from the French government.

People clad mostly in white packed a gymnasium in the cane-growing area of Petit-Canal to hear poems about struggle and songs in homage to Jacques Bino, the labor-union activist shot to death last week in the French overseas department, apparently by rioting youths.

Some of the participants wore T-shirts emblazoned with images of Bino, who was killed as he drove home from a meeting with the organizers of protests that have paralyzed the French island for more than a month. His body was displayed in an open casket for two days.

"We are saddened, but we will continue the fight," Guadeloupe protest leader Elie Domota told mourners in a speech.

In the crowd, Adele Goram, an islander from a nearby town, said she attended the ceremony for Bino because she wanted Paris to "respect" Guadeloupe, a French overseas possession with deep economic and social disparities.

The strike by workers demanding a higher wages in Guadeloupe began in late January and has been marked by resentment of the tiny elite who control the island's economy. Strikes have spread to neighboring Martinique.

FULL story and photos at link.