Riots in New Caledonia: after four deaths, deployment of the army and 70 new arrests – 05/16/2024 at 01:39

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced Wednesday the deployment of the army to “secure” the ports and airport of New Caledonia, after two nights of riots which left four dead, including a gendarme, in the shaken archipelago by the revolt of the separatists against an electoral reform voted by Parliament.

The high commissioner in this South Pacific territory, Louis Le Franc, who had requested reinforcements from the army to protect the Nouméa airport, closed until further notice, for his part “announced a curfew and banned TikTok”, a social network used by the rioters, Mr. Attal said.

Since Monday, the police have made nearly 200 arrests in total, according to the high commissioner.

The Prime Minister must once again chair an interministerial crisis unit in Beauvau on Thursday at 8:30 a.m.

A sign of the seriousness of the situation, Emmanuel Macron gave up a trip planned for Thursday to the EPR site in Flamanville (Manche) to be able to chair a “monitoring meeting” on the New Caledonian situation. He proposed to New Caledonian elected officials to have “an exchange by videoconference” at the end.

The state of emergency, requested by the Head of State, has been in force on the Caillou since 8:00 p.m. Paris time (5:00 a.m. Thursday in Nouméa).

Implemented after the attacks of November 13, 2015 or during the Covid-19 epidemic, this measure makes it possible in particular to prohibit travel or demonstrations and was demanded by many voices on the right and the far right.

In this context, the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin carried out the first five house arrests of members of the Field Action Coordination Cell (CCAT), the most radical fringe of the Socialist Kanak Liberation Front (FLNKS), according to a Source close to the file.

In a press release, the leaders of this movement, without reacting to these house arrests, argued that “the abuses committed (…) were not necessary”, but were “the expression of the invisible people of society who suffer inequalities head on and are marginalized on a daily basis.

– “Quieter night” –

According to Sonia Backès, former Secretary of State and main figure in the non-independence camp, the third night of riots was less virulent than the previous ones. “A much calmer night almost everywhere,” she wrote on her Facebook page, “due to the exceptional mobilization of Caledonians who protect their neighborhood (…) and the much greater presence of the police ” notably.

The building of the customary Senate was, however, set on fire during the night from Wednesday to Thursday, we learned from its communications service, without us yet knowing the extent of the damage. Heavy gunfire also rang out in the early morning in Nouméa and Auteuil, one of the poor neighborhoods in the north of the capital, where all the businesses were destroyed, noted an AFP correspondent. Gas station, pizzeria, hairdresser and supermarket were notably burned and looted.

The main political parties in the territory and the authorities had called for calm the day before, after a wave of violence that began on Monday, the most serious since the 1980s.

According to the latest report communicated by the Elysée, this violence left three people dead. A gendarme in his twenties who was hit in the head by a shot also succumbed to his injuries.

Fires, looting, armed clashes between rioters and the population or with the police, the entire archipelago has been the scene of particularly violent riots since Monday, despite the establishment of a nighttime curfew in Nouméa and its surrounding areas. agglomeration.

The high commissioner reported on Wednesday “exchanges of buckshot between rioters and civil defense groups in Nouméa and Paita” and indicated that he had involved elite RAID police officers against rioters who were heading towards a gas depot.

– Ultimatum –

In mainland France, deputies adopted the text which expands the electoral body by 351 votes to 153 during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. The constitutional reform will still have to obtain three-fifths of the votes of the parliamentarians meeting at the Congress in Versailles.

In a letter sent Wednesday to Caledonian representatives, Emmanuel Macron specified that this Congress would meet “before the end of June”, unless separatists and loyalists agree by then on a more global text.

The text voted on by senators and now deputies aims to expand the electorate in provincial elections, crucial in the archipelago. Supporters of independence judge that this thaw risks reducing their electoral weight and “even further minimizing the indigenous Kanak people”.

On Wednesday, the pro-independence president of the territory’s government, Louis Mapou, “took note” of the reform voted in Paris but deplored an “approach which heavily impacts our ability to conduct the affairs of New Caledonia”.

The left called for the suspension of this constitutional reform. “Everything must be done to regain calm and dialogue,” argued communist Fabien Roussel.

On Wednesday, due to a lack of supplies in stores, food shortages caused very long queues in front of stores, noted the AFP correspondent.

– “I am scared” –

In Tuband, a district of Nouméa, residents patrolled during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday armed with sticks or baseball bats, hooded or helmeted.

“The cops are overwhelmed so we try to protect ourselves,” one resident, Sébastien, 42, explained to AFP.

To contain the riots, large numbers of police and gendarmes, including elements of their two elite groups, the GIGN and the RAID, were mobilized.

Other reinforcements were being transported to the archipelago, according to Gérald Darmanin. According to the ministry, 1,800 police officers and gendarmes were deployed there on Wednesday and 500 more will arrive there in the coming hours.