Strike Strands Tourists on Guadeloupe

POINTE-A-PITRE, Guadeloupe —  Truck drivers demonstrating against gas price hikes trapped tourists in their hotels rooms on Guadeloupe, and an unidentified assailant tried to assassinate a political leader.

Police said that during the demonstrations last week an unidentified assailant neared government offices and shot at, but did not hit Lucette Michaux Chevry, president of the assembly and founder of the conservative Party for Guadeloupe.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack. Chevry was hospitalized for shock but otherwise was unhurt, officials said.

It was not clear immediately whether the shooting was linked to drivers’ complaints about a rise in fuel prices approved by the local legislature. The demonstration left tourists marooned without transportation around the palm tree-dotted island in the Caribbean west of Florida.