The Olympic flame won’t move by way of New Caledonia, declares Amélie Oudéa-Castéra | EUROtoday

The passage of the Olympic flame by way of New Caledonia scheduled for June 11 was canceled as a result of it was vital to present “priority to return to calm” within the territory the place violent riots left a number of useless, defined the Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, Saturday May 18. “I think everyone understands, given the context, the real priority is to consolidate the return to public order, and then to appeasement”she advised the press throughout the Epee (fencing) World Cup stage in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés (Val-de-Marne).

“Priority to the safety of residents, priority to a return to calm, and priority to the political improvement of the situation”affirmed the minister whereas the violence linked to the riots in New Caledonia, a French archipelago within the South Pacific, continues on Saturday with a sixth dying in six days, in keeping with the authorities, and a state of affairs “far from a return to appeasement” in keeping with the mayor of Nouméa, Sonia Lagarde.

“The police are busy restoring calm, restoring order”

Friday, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal introduced the cancellation of the passage of the flame by way of the archipelago throughout a gathering with parliamentarians in Matignon, in keeping with corroborating sources joined by Agence France-Presse. “Everyone understands, we would have liked to be able to share this moment” even when “by June 11, there may be favorable developments”mentioned the minister chargeable for the 2024 Olympics in Paris, referring to the difficulties linked to logistics and safety.

“To be ready on June 11, it's a whole countdown and operations of prospecting, verification, shadowing that must be carried out. And the police, the military, today are busy restoring calm, restoring order”, did she say. These riots, probably the most critical in New Caledonia because the Nineteen Eighties, are attributable to an electoral reform which angered separatists.

Arriving with nice fanfare on May 8 in Marseille aboard the three-masted Belem, the Olympic flame should cross all of France, with passages within the abroad territories, to complete its route on the banks of the Seine, on July 26, and set the cauldron ablaze throughout the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, the third Paris Games after 1900 and 1924.