Around 200 people demonstrated this Saturday in Mulhouse in support of Christian Tein, Kanak leader of the Field Action Coordination Cell, an independence movement, incarcerated in the Mulhouse-Lutterbach penitentiary center. In total, seven activists are incarcerated in several prisons in France.
Around 200 people (185 according to the police) demonstrated on Saturday in Mulhouse (Haut-Rhin) in support of Christian Tein, Kanak leader of the Field Action Coordination Cell (CCAT), incarcerated in the prison of this Alsatian town, noted an AFP correspondent on site. Activists of the Kanak Movement in France (MKF) gathered in a town square, before heading to the sub-prefecture to show their support for the pro-independence Kanaks, seven of whom are imprisoned in France. Among them, Christian Tein is currently detained at the Mulhouse-Lutterbach penitentiary center.
Armed with banners proclaiming “Free our innocents; deported and condemned unjustly” or “Colonization is a crime against humanity”, the activists remained gathered for about two hours before peacefully returning to the prison site, in front of which they demonstrated until around 5:00 p.m.
Seven activists placed in pre-trial detention in various prisons in France
Since the start of the unrest in New Caledonia linked to the constitutional reform on the thawing of the electoral body, criticized by Kanak separatists, 1,520 people have been arrested, according to the High Commission of the Republic in the archipelago. 11 separatist activists were arrested on June 19. Among them, nine were placed in pretrial detention, including seven in various prisons in mainland France.
The violence, the most serious to have occurred in the archipelago since the 1980s, left nine dead, according to the authorities’ latest report, and considerable material damage (fires, destruction, looting, etc.). A renewed tension occurred after the transfer to mainland France at the end of last week of independence activists. Gatherings are also prohibited in New Caledonia from Saturday morning to Sunday evening and the curfew, in force since the start of high tensions, has been extended until July 8, the High Commission of the Republic announced on Friday. .
