“It’s the poor who will pay” | EUROtoday

Only a handful of dwellings stood there, remoted, half a dozen years in the past. Shopping avenue, church, social buildings, colleges, play park for youngsters… The model new Jardins d'Apogoti district, in Dumbéa, sprang up from the bottom below the demographic strain skilled by the Greater Nouméa conurbation, in direction of which proceed to converge inhabitants of the provinces of the Loyalty Islands and the North, with a Kanak majority. Today, he blames the shock of the riots of May 13. Almost all of its companies have been looted by younger delinquents. Having survived, the bakery, a Wallisian household enterprise with beneficiant cabinets, has grow to be the middle of social life. It is all the time full this Friday, May 31.

“We didn’t create enough diversity right away. We made a time bomb. I want to restart life here. The priority now is social. » Walking through the pillaged and burned streets of his village, on this weekend's eve, Senator (Les Républicains) Georges Naturel expresses a mea culpa. In New Caledonia, everywhere, since the explosion of violence on May 13, citizens have accused political leaders, both non-independence and independent, of having favored their internal quarrels to the detriment of the youth and the future of the country. Former mayor of the commune of Dumbéa, Mr. Naturel lives here, in a neighborhood that he largely contributed to designing.

However, the Apogoti Gardens are cut in two. On one side of the Savexpress, the dual carriageway which runs from Nouméa towards the north, the social housing occupied by Wallisians and Kanaks. On the other, the shopping district. Between the two, under the road bridge and on the roundabout, the smoking independence barrier was cleared a few hours earlier by the mobile gendarmes. There are car wrecks and lots of debris left. While the “moms” carry the lunch pots on the finish of the morning, the younger residents collect. For the remainder, “we are waiting for instructions”laconically signifies an activist from the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS).

” Hey ! Mr. Mayor ! » Everyone greets Mr. Naturel as the previous native elected official of Dumbéa. The Shell station, which has remained intact, stays closed, however it’s guarded by its homeowners, Eugène Togna, the revered patriarch of the massive Kanak customary space Djubéa-Kaponé, and his son Rodolphe, member (Caledonian Union-FLNKS) of the opposition municipal of Dumbéa. This land is theirs, and an enormous crowd attended the inauguration of the fuel station in 2020.

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