(Nouméa) Violence resumed on Monday in New Caledonia after the incarceration in mainland France of several independence activists, their organization demanding their “release” and “immediate return”.
“The night was agitated and marked by unrest throughout the mainland [l’île principale]on the Isle of Pines and Maré, requiring the intervention of numerous reinforcements,” the High Commission, representative of the State in the French archipelago in the South Pacific, indicated in a press release on Monday.
This renewed tension comes after the transfer to mainland France, during the night from Saturday to Sunday, of several Caledonian independence figures, suspected of having orchestrated the riots on the “Caillou”, to be incarcerated there.
New Caledonia has been in the grip of violent unrest since May 13, arising from the contestation of an electoral thaw bill. The events left nine people dead, including two gendarmes, and immense damage, estimated at more than a billion euros.
President Emmanuel Macron suspended in mid-June the bill which ignited the powder and crystallized the anger of the independence camp: it provided for a constitutional reform modifying the electoral criteria for the Caledonian provincial elections, which would have had the consequences, according to its opponents, to marginalize the weight of the indigenous Kanak people.
The Field Action Coordination Unit (CCAT), accused by the authorities of being at the origin of the uprising against electoral reform, demanded on Monday “the release and immediate return” of its activists imprisoned in mainland France.
“We demand the release and immediate return of the brothers and sisters to be judged on their land,” affirmed the CCAT, denouncing the “colonial tactics” of France after the arrest and transfer of these separatists, including the word of the CCAT Christian Tein.
“The removal of Kanak independence leaders from the CCAT more than 17,000 km from their homes as part of their placement in pre-trial detention seriously violates their right to private and family life,” denounced the Commission in a press release. League for Human Rights (LDH).
Questioned on the sidelines of a trip as part of the legislative election campaign in France, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal defended the arrests of “people who were at the origin of serious violence”.
“Force must remain within the law, and I think that is very important for security on site,” he argued.
“Free our prisoners!” »
In Dumbéa, north of Nouméa, capital of New Caledonia, the municipal police premises burned as well as a garage. Four armored vehicles intervened, noted an AFP journalist.
The clashes took place near a car garage where cars were on fire. Four hooded activists standing behind makeshift barricades threw projectiles towards the police, insulting them, observed an AFP journalist.
A 23-year-old man in a state of “respiratory distress” died in the night after going to roadblocks in Nouméa, the prosecution announced, specifying that the victim had assured his parents that he had not been “injured by the police”.
A motorist “forced to turn around due to a roadblock built by independence activists”, according to firefighters, died on Sunday evening from a head-on collision with another vehicle in the urban area of Nouméa.
Near a large, completely destroyed sports equipment store located in the surrounding area, separatists camped in front of the police early Monday afternoon, one of them shouting “Free our prisoners!” “.
PHOTO DELPHINE MAYEUR, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Smoke rises from a fire at a roadblock in the Vallée du Tir district, June 24, 2024.
Clashes also pitted the police against separatists in Bourail, a town located less than 200 km north of Nouméa, which resulted in one injured person, AFP learned. The injured person was not hit by a bullet and is not a member of the police, the high commission said.
The High Commission reported “several controlled fires”, particularly in Ducos and in the Magenta district, adding that “the premises and vehicles of the municipal police and private vehicles” were set on fire.
“Abuses, destruction and attempted fires were also committed in several places on Païta,” added the High Commission, stressing that “the territorial brigade of Maré was also attacked”.
Reactivation of the airlift
The road leading to the airport was also blocked on Monday, due to a clearance operation by the police, according to AFP journalists.
The air bridge between Magenta aerodrome, located in the district of the same name in Nouméa, and La Tontouta international airport, which was to be completely lifted on Monday, was reactivated for passengers arriving or departing on Monday , announced the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), infrastructure manager.
Many schools were also closed due to the renewed violence and the expressway leading to the hospital was blocked.
In the evening, the streets of Nouméa were rather quiet, but many roads were cut off by trees, branches, large paving stones and lampposts on the ground. Activists hidden on the sides of the road threw projectiles at the police who came to clear the area, according to an AFP journalist, who saw firefighters intervene to put out a car fire.
Around 2 a.m. Tuesday (11 a.m. Eastern), blockades were reformed in Nouméa.
In total, 1,493 people have been arrested since the start of the unrest, including 38 on Monday.