The October riots: what was damaged, who pays, and what it means for a country already in debt
Six days of unrest after the Camp-Levieux shooting left police stations burned, shops looted, cane fields on fire and the tram stopped. No official damage total exists yet. What is known, who pays for what, and why every rupee of rebuilding counts when public debt is 87.8% of GDP.
Photo: Starts, CC BY-SA 4.0
In short
What happened: protests over water shortages and living costs began on 7 October. After a police officer shot a 27-year-old woman on 9 October, they turned into the worst riots since 1999: a police station burned in Rose-Hill, others attacked in Bambous and Barkly, shops looted, vehicles set on fire.
The toll so far: 94 arrests, including 16 minors, and 7 police officers injured (Cabinet, 14 October). Schools were closed, exams of 13 October postponed, and a curfew covered about a third of the island.
Damage with a figure: about Rs 21 to 22 million for the four businesses that have given one (SaveMax, McDonald's, Pizza Inn, an Oxenham truck), plus "several million rupees" for Metro Express. Public buildings, traffic lights and CCTV have no published cost yet.
Cane fields burned too: about 17,450 tonnes of sugar cane went up in fires from 12 to 15 October, in Cascavelle, Gros-Cailloux, Solferino, Montebello and Chemin-Grenier. The minister says most look criminal. By our rough estimate that is Rs 8 to 19 million of sugar, before the damage to next year's crop.
Why it matters for public money: the Government already borrows to pay its bills. The deficit is planned at Rs 31.2bn this year, debt is 87.8% of GDP, and interest alone costs Rs 30bn a year, about Rs 82 million a day. Whatever the state rebuilds is, in practice, borrowed.
The bigger bill is likely not the broken glass but the lost days: closed shops and schools, a stopped tram, curfew nights, and travel warnings from the UK and Canada for a country that lives on tourism.
What happened, day by day
7 and 8 October: residents of La Caverne and Phoenix, then Saint-Paul, blocked roads over dry taps during a severe drought, and over the cost of living (see our brief on the water crisis).
9 October: in Camp-Levieux, a police sergeant fired at a minibus; a 27-year-old passenger was seriously injured. The sergeant was charged and remains in custody (see our brief on the shooting).
12 and 13 October: the protests turned into riots. A police station was set on fire in Rose-Hill and others were attacked in Bambous and Barkly; supermarkets and fast-food outlets were looted or vandalised in Bambous, Camp-Levieux and Beau-Bassin; vehicles were burned and roads blocked. The Government closed all schools and nurseries, postponed the national and international exams of 13 October, and declared a curfew.
14 and 15 October: the Cabinet reported 94 arrests since the start of the riots, including 16 minors and one police officer, and seven officers injured. The curfew was extended over ten administrative regions, about a third of the island. No deaths have been reported.
What was damaged, and what we know it costs
No government, insurer or business body has published a total yet. These are the figures given so far, each by the people concerned. They are first estimates and are likely to rise once experts assess the damage.
Public property also suffered: police stations in Rose-Hill, Bambous and Barkly, traffic lights and CCTV cameras, according to the Government. None of these has a published cost yet. MoBriefs will add the figures when they are announced.
The cane fields: Cascavelle and four other areas
In the same days as the riots, fires swept through cane fields. The Prime Minister's Office named Cascavelle, Gros-Cailloux, Solferino, Montebello and Chemin-Grenier and said the fires were quickly brought under control. The Chamber of Agriculture counted about 11,000 tonnes burned by 14 October and nearly 15,000 by the next day; the Minister of Agro-industry, Arvin Boolell, gave 17,450 tonnes since 12 October, and said the circumstances suggest most of the fires were criminal. Whether they are linked to the riots has not been established.
Burned cane can still be milled, but it must be cut and crushed fast, and it gives less sugar: the Chamber expects 500 to 800 tonnes of sugar from the first 11,000 tonnes, against about 1,000 tonnes normally. Applied to all 17,450 tonnes at the 2025 syndicate price of Rs 24,095 a tonne of sugar, that is roughly 300 to 800 tonnes of sugar lost, about Rs 8 to 19 million. A MoBriefs estimate, not an official figure.
The bigger loss may come next year. Some fields had freshly fertilised young shoots (ratoons) for the 2027 harvest, and irrigation pipes were damaged. The Small Planters Association warned that, without proper treatment, those fields could produce about a quarter less next season. About 1.2 million tonnes of cane were still to be cut this year, and the three sugar mills, stopped by the curfew, restarted on 14 October.
Who pays for what
Shops and companies: their insurance pays only if the policy covers riots. Many property policies cover riot damage only through a specific extension, usually called "strikes, riots and civil commotion" (SRCC) cover, so owners should check theirs. Where there is no such cover, the owner bears the loss. Metro Express says it has already made a claim.
Public buildings and equipment: police stations, traffic lights, cameras and roads belong to the state, so repairing them comes out of the budget. Metro Express Ltd is a state-owned company, so any loss its insurance does not cover falls, in the end, on public money too.
Planters: sugar estates and small planters carry the cane losses, unless their crop insurance pays. Planters insured with the state-run Sugar Insurance Fund Board may be able to claim; what it pays for fires set on purpose depends on its rules, and no payout has been announced.
Everyone else: the costs nobody invoices. Workers who could not reach their jobs, shops that stayed shut, parents with children at home, exams to reorganise, and a supermarket in Bambous closed "until further notice", with its jobs on hold.
Why rebuilding is harder for a country already in debt
The Government plans to spend Rs 266.7bn in 2026-27 and collect Rs 235.5bn: it already borrows Rs 31.2bn (3.7% of GDP) just to cover this year's plan. Last year the deficit ended at 6.0% of GDP instead of the 4.9% promised, and this year's target counts on Rs 10.6bn of Chagos money that has not arrived (see our fact check on the deficit).
Public-sector debt is 87.8% of GDP, about Rs 682bn, and still rising in rupees. Interest on it costs Rs 30bn a year, more than everything the state invests in roads, schools and hospitals (Rs 26bn). That is about Rs 82 million a day, or Rs 3.4 million an hour: the private damage with a published figure equals roughly six or seven hours of interest. A MoBriefs calculation.
So the rebuilding bill itself, even if it reaches a few hundred million rupees, is small next to the budget. What makes it costly is when it arrives: there is no spare money, so each rupee spent on rebuilding is either borrowed, at interest, or taken from something else already planned. And the target of bringing debt below 80% of GDP by 2029 leaves little room for surprises (see our fact check on the debt).
The cost that matters most: confidence
Mauritius lives on tourism and financial services. The United Kingdom and Canada updated their travel advice, warning of demonstrations, curfews and disruption. The airport kept running and hotels in the coastal resort areas report normal operations.
A country risk analyst at Signal Risk in Cape Town told Bloomberg (reported by News24) that Mauritius is still seen as business-friendly, and that tourism and investor confidence are unlikely to suffer unless the unrest persists. A reputation for safety, once dented, takes longer to rebuild than a police station.
What to watch
An official damage figure from the Government, and whether a support scheme is announced for small businesses without riot cover.
How rebuilding is paid for: from savings elsewhere in the budget, from the contingency, or by more borrowing.
The causes: the protests began over water and prices. The water network still loses about 60% of what it treats (see our brief on the CWA), and prices are tracked in MoCost. Fixing those is cheaper than another week like this one.