in Nouméa, one lifeless throughout a second night time of riots | EUROtoday

The riots continued through the night time of Tuesday May 14 to Wednesday May 15 in New Caledonia, inflicting the taking pictures demise of 1 particular person, introduced the High Commissioner of the Republic, Louis Le Franc. “Of the three injured admitted to the emergency room, one died, the victim of a gunshot. Not from a shot by the police or the gendarmerie, but from someone who certainly wanted to defend themselves”he declared to the press, with out giving different particulars.

“I’ll let you imagine what will happen if militias start shooting at armed people”continued Mr. Le Franc, deploring a state of affairs that he described as“insurrectional” within the archipelago. “It must be time for appeasement (…), the call for calm is imperative”, insisted the state consultant. The High Commissioner additionally reported a number of “exchanges of buckshot between rioters and civil defense groups in Nouméa and Pata” and a “attempted intrusion into the brigade [de gendarmerie] of Saint-Michel ».

The High Commission of the Republic announced, Wednesday in a new report, a total of 140 arrests in the metropolitan area of ​​Nouméa alone. In view of the clashes that occurred during the night, educational establishments “will remain closed until further notice”, introduced the vice-rectorate of New Caledonia within the morning. La Tontouta airport stays closed to industrial flights for the second. Since Monday, the French territory within the South Pacific has been experiencing its most critical violence for the reason that Nineteen Eighties.

New acts of vandalism

In the Nouméa metropolitan space, the curfew decreed by the High Commissioner of the Republic got here into pressure on Tuesday at 6 p.m. native time (9 a.m. in France). But as night time fell, acts of vandalism resumed. Several public infrastructures within the capital burned, famous an Agence France-Presse (AFP) correspondent. Damaged or charred vehicles have been additionally seen in all places within the streets, whereas vans carrying cellular gendarmes, amongst different regulation enforcement businesses, crisscrossed the town.

On Wednesday morning, meals shortages, because of an absence of provides in shops, have been obtrusive, resulting in very lengthy queues in entrance of shops. Some in Nouméa have been stormed, others have been nearly empty, having no extra bread or rice to promote, famous the AFP correspondent. In Tuband, a district of Nouméa, residents patrolled armed with sticks or baseball bats, some sporting hoods.

“A collective movement involving around fifty detainees”which started on the night time of Tuesday to Wednesday within the Camp-Est jail in Nouméa, was additionally “controlled” by regulation enforcement, in accordance with the Chancellery. “More than 70 police officers and gendarmes were injured”, stated the Minister of the Interior and Overseas Territories, Gérald Darmanin, throughout inquiries to the federal government within the National Assembly. And “80 business leaders saw their production tools burned or destroyed”he clarified.

The separatists play appeasement

In a letter despatched Wednesday to Caledonian representatives after the Assembly vote, Emmanuel Macron condemned the “unworthy and unacceptable character” violence and referred to as on the events to ” calm “.

On the spot, the separatists additionally denounced the violence, and referred to as for“appeasement” whereas condemning the vote of the deputies. Speaking in a press release from“abuses” that he “regrets and wishes to denounce”the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) stated ” wish[r] withdrawal “ from the federal government textual content “in order to preserve the conditions for obtaining a global political agreement between New Caledonian officials and the French State”. Having nevertheless “not aimed at starving and aggravating the already difficult social and economic situation of families”the independence motion referred to as “to the lifting of the roadblocks to allow [le] free access of the population to products, services and basic needs”.

The president of the Caledonian Union (independence) Daniel Goa requested the youth to ” go home “ and condemned looting and abuses. “The unrest of the last twenty-four hours reveals the determination of our young people to no longer let France do them”he nevertheless commented.

In entrance of the press, the independence president of the territorial authorities, Louis Mapou, “taken note” of the reform voted in Paris however deplored a “approach which has a serious impact on our ability to conduct the affairs of New Caledonia”.

“We appeal for calm”continued Louis Mapou. “Mobilizations must take place within a framework”continued the president of the customary senate, Victor Gogny. “For two days we have left this framework and the country is on fire. We need to come back to this framework and let everything calm down. »

In a letter addressed to the Head of State, the main figure of the non-independence camp, the former Secretary of State Sonia Backès, for her part asked the Head of State to declare a state of emergency , “in particular by engaging the army alongside the police and gendarmerie forces”. “We are in a state of civil war”she lamented.

In concern of getting slowed down, parts of the GIGN, the RAID (its equal for the police), 4 squadrons of cellular gendarmes and two sections of the CRS 8, a unit specializing within the battle towards city violence, have been mobilized . Reinforcements have been being transported to the archipelago, introduced Gérald Darmanin.

The authorities underneath hearth

The Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, referred to as on Tuesday, throughout inquiries to the federal government, the political leaders of New Caledonia to ” to input [la] hand held out “ of dialogue, confirming that the Congress of Parliament wouldn’t meet ” immediately “ after the vote on the constitutional invoice criticized by the separatists, leaving an interval for discussions. “The important thing is appeasement. The important thing is dialogue. The important thing is to build a common, political and global solution. he added.

The government is strongly criticized for its method in New Caledonia. “Rulers without understanding the history of the peoples of Grande Terre and the Loyalty Islands played with matches while despising the Kanaks (…) Caledonia Kanaky is on fire »was alarmed on Tuesday on the leader of La France insoumise (LFI), Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

“Nothing was unpredictable”stated the top of LFI deputies, Mathilde Panot, through the query session to the federal government within the Assembly, additionally stating “an undeniable colonial fact” and judging that “bad decisions have been piling up since Edouard Philippe no longer manages the file”.

“The way in which France behaves with its former colonies is humiliating and degrading so yes, it provokes somewhat knee-jerk reactions”estimated the nationwide secretary of Ecologists, Marine Tondelier, on Franceinfo.

Former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe sounded the alarm originally of May, as did his predecessors Manuel Valls and Jean-Marc Ayrault, expressing concern, in feedback reported by The world, of the shortage of takeover of the topic by Matignon, traditionally accountable for the Caledonian file. But, after the no to independence through the referendums of 2018, 2020 and 2021, the file discovered itself on the desk of the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, focused by criticism of the separatists regardless of seven journeys to the island in latest months.

To calm the state of affairs, a number of parliamentarians are calling for the creation of a brand new “dialogue mission” of which Gabriel Attal can be the “guarantor”. A request already defended in a transpartisan method through the debates within the Senate on the finish of March, the place the left had denounced the “strength” of a reform perceived as “a cleaver” regionally.