JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Mauritius imposed an overnight curfew after a police shooting fueled rare civil unrest on the Indian Ocean island, better known as an idyllic holiday destination and one of Africa’s most stable democracies.
Police said on Wednesday that the situation was under control and the curfew had been lifted after days of protests that intensified when an officer shot and wounded a woman on Friday.
Protesters clashed with police, blocked roads with burning tires and other debris, and damaged public buildings, according to local reports. Videos published by a Mauritian news outlet showed protesters firing what appeared to be fireworks at police officers.
The paramilitary Special Mobile Force police unit was mobilized.
The curfew required everyone in the capital, Port Louis, and several other towns to remain indoors from 8:30 p.m. Tuesday until 6 a.m. Wednesday.
The protests began last week over water shortages and the cost of living but escalated after the shooting in Beau Bassin-Rose Hill, southwest of Port Louis.
Financial services and tourism underpin Mauritius’ economy. The island, known for its luxury beach resorts, last experienced similar unrest in 1999, when the death of a popular musician in police custody sparked days of rioting.
The wounded woman was taken to hospital. Police said they had arrested one officer, suspended three others and were investigating the shooting. The three were suspended for “failing to provide assistance to a person whose life was in danger,” according to a police statement.
The national public prosecutor’s office said the investigation should also cover Special Mobile Force officers present at the time of the shooting.
Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam, who ordered the curfew, warned in a televised address Tuesday that protesters involved in violence and destruction would face “very heavy consequences.”
Police reported several arrests but gave no exact number. There were no immediate reports of injuries other than those suffered by the woman who was shot. Schools and public transport services were also closed during the protests.
AP writer Gerald Imray in Johannesburg contributed to this report.
AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa
FILE - Dhananjay Ramful, Foreign Minister for Mauritius addresses the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters Sept. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)
FILE - Prime Minister of Mauritius Navin Ramgoolam sits with French President Emmanuel Macron (unseen) at a press conference, Nov. 20, 2025, in Port-Louis, Mauritius. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
FILE - People enjoy Perbere beach in the north of Mauritius, Nov. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice has threatened California with possible legal action over what it says are noncitizens believed to have received mail ballots for next month’s midterm elections.
A letter sent Tuesday to Secretary of State Shirley Weber from Trent McCotter, the acting deputy U.S. attorney general, says the department has provided officials in Los Angeles County with a password-protected thumb drive with a list of names the federal government believes are likely noncitizens who were sent ballots to participate in the Nov. 3 election.
California mails ballots to all registered voters.
The letter obtained by The Associated Press gives the state 48 hours to determine whether any citizens are included on the list. For individuals whose citizenship cannot be independently verified, the state is to instruct local election officials to segregate their mail-in ballots until their status can be determined, and to not provide a ballot to anyone who has not yet received it. The letters warns that legal action may follow if the state does not meet the 48-hour deadline to review the list.
“If you cannot implement this process by then, given the ongoing federal election, the United States will have no choice but to seek emergency relief,” the letter states.
A separate, similar letter was sent to the registrar's office in Los Angeles County, which the U.S. attorney's office had investigated during the state's June primary.
Neither the California secretary of state nor the Los Angeles County registrar immediately responded to requests seeking comment.
The Trump administration has made the hunt for noncitizen voters a priority this year, even though the problem is exceptionally rare. The Justice Department has charged about 90 people for various types of election misconduct so far this year, including 50 who are alleged to have voted as noncitizens. There were more than 227 million registered voters in the United States during the 2024 presidential election.
In July, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin sent letters to California, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, alleging that as many as 250,000 noncitizens were registered in those states. Election officials there were skeptical of the claim, including Weber, the California secretary of state.
“I have serious doubts about the reliability of your data and accuracy of your claims, since my office has not shared our statewide voter registration list with DHS or any other federal agency or official,” Weber said in response.
That same month, the Republican administration claimed Nevada had 1,500 noncitizen voters on its voter rolls. But after the federal government identified them to the state, the number of actual registered noncitizens turned out to be zero.
As part of its project to find noncitizens on the voter rolls, the Justice Department has been seeking detailed voter information — including dates of birth, addresses, driver's license numbers and partial Social Security numbers — from the states. Some Republican-led states have turned over the information, which has been run through a U.S. Department of Homeland Security database that has been criticized as inaccurately flagging U.S. citizens.
The Justice Department has sued 30 states and the District of Columbia for that information, but so far has lost those cases in court. California is among the states that successfully sued, in part by arguing that turning over the data would violate state privacy laws.
Santa Cruz County Clerk Tricia Webber, who is president of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials, said she had not seen the letters but said the 48-hour deadline to vet voters flagged by the federal government was “completely unreasonable.”
She said when there is a report of an ineligible voter incorrectly on the rolls, her office does due diligence to investigate. That involves looking at the voter’s registration history, identifying whether that person had voted before and, most importantly, reaching out to the voter, she said.
“It would take more than 48 hours to even begin to get the full picture,” Webber said. She also questioned how the federal government came up with a list of alleged noncitizen voters since it doesn’t have access to the state's detailed voter information.
Webber added that throughout the course of her decades-long career working for local election agencies, she has “never seen anything that would make me believe that our voter records are filled with fraudulent voters.”
FILE - The U.S. Department of Justice logo is seen on a podium before a news conference, May 4, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
FILE - The U.S. Department of Justice logo is seen on a podium before a press conference, May 6, 2025, at the Justice Department in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
