New Caledonia riots: parts of territory ‘out of state control’, French representative says | New Caledonia
Tensions remain high in Noumea, the capital of New Caledoniaon Friday after days of unrest as a French government official said areas of the Pacific territory had “escaped” from state control.
Louis le Franc, the Republic’s High Commissioner to New Caledonia, announced new security deployments.
“Reinforcements will arrive … to control the areas that eluded us in recent days, where control is no longer guaranteed,” Le Fran told reporters at a briefing. One man suspected of murder has turned himself in to authorities, he said.
Hundreds of extra troops and police have already arrived in the troubled territory after days of unrest that left five people dead.
Opposition to a French plan to impose new voting rules has erupted into deadly violence in the archipelago between Australia and Fiji, which is one of the few territories in the world that remain part of France.
At a press briefing on Friday morning, Le Franck said that “several hundred” rebels remained in the Camère, Montrével and Vallée-du-Tier areas, where the situation was still very difficult.
“These are areas where there are several hundred insurgents waiting to contact the police,” Le Franck said.
In the working-class neighborhoods of Noumea, which have a large population of local Kanak residents, buildings were burned and wrecked vehicles were left in the middle of the road. The official death toll is five, with two policemen killed. The three other victims were Kanak, and images of corpses circulating on social media increased the anger of Kanak youth.
Le Franck said on Friday that authorities would seek to restore access to hospitals.
“The first priority is to unblock all routes. So that caregivers can get there. The same goes for the Caledonians, who we have to look after,” he said.
The Cell for the Coordination of Field Actions (CCAT), the group that organized Monday’s protest against the proposed constitutional reform, blamed the French government for the violence.
“Faced with the state’s dogged determination to force constitutional change, we condemn its irresponsibility and hold it responsible for the loss of human life, atrocities and the destruction of the country’s economic fabric,” it said in a statement.
Prime Minister Gabriel Atal earlier said around 1,000 extra security forces would be sent to New Caledonia – adding to the 1,700 already present – while authorities would push for the “sternest punishments for rebels and looters”.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said reinforcements began arriving on Thursday. Troops have been called in to secure New Caledonia’s international airport, which is closed to commercial flights, and major ports. TikTok is banned because it is used by protesters, according to authorities.
The social media company called the decision “regrettable” in a statement and said “there was no request or question, no request to take down content from local authorities or the French government.”
As part of the state of emergency, about 200 of the estimated 5,000 “rebels” have been detained, French authorities said.
Security forces have placed under house arrest five suspected pro-independence activists accused of orchestrating violence, according to authorities.
It added that “people ambushed law enforcement officials” with “sustained shotgun fire.”
Sixty-four of the injured were police and security forces.
Onlookers walked around burnt-out shops, looted shelves and discarded packaging.
Between 80 and 90 per cent of Noumea’s food distribution network – from shops to warehouses and wholesalers – has been “destroyed”, Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) president David Guen said. The CCI said around 200 million euros worth of damage had been caused.
Nicole George, an Australian professor visiting Noumea, told AFP she saw residents armed with makeshift weapons manning barricades.
“The situation is very tense. People are on edge. They are scared. They are tired,” she said.
As long as there are three times rejected independence in referendumsthe cause retains strong support among the Kanak people, whose ancestors have lived on the islands for thousands of years.
Colonized by France from the second half of the 19th century, New Caledonia has a special status, unlike the country’s other overseas territories.
On Tuesday, French lawmakers pushed through plans to allow outsiders who moved to New Caledonia at least 10 years ago to vote in the territory’s elections.
Pro-independence forces say this would dilute the vote of the Kanaks, who make up about 40% of the population.
A group of independence movements in French territories around the world, convened by Azerbaijan, issued statements on the riots on Tuesday and Thursday, prompting Darmanin to accuse Baku of “interference”.
Baku quickly dismissed the accusation as “baseless”.
The voting reform still needs to be approved by a joint session of both houses of the French parliament.
President Emmanuel Macron said French lawmakers would vote to accept the constitutional change by the end of June unless New Caledonia’s warring parties could reach a new deal.
But a video conference planned for Thursday between Macron and MPs from New Caledonia was canceled because “the various players did not want to talk to each other,” his office said.
Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
