faced with the violence, residents of Nouméa set up “armed militias” in certain neighborhoods

New violence broke out during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday in Nouméa, where separatists oppose the constitutional reform project. A resident, member of the “vigilant neighbors”, testifies to this growing tension.

New night of violence in New Caledonia. At least two people died on Wednesday May 15 in the violence that has shaken the “Caillou” since the examination and vote by the National Assembly of a constitutional revision project aimed at expanding the electorate of the archipelago. Emmanuel Macron canceled part of his trip planned for the day to Normandy to chair a defense council devoted to the situation in the archipelago, the Elysée announced.

On site, the curfew has been extended until Thursday May 16. Despite its establishment, the island was once again the scene of looting of stores, fires and violence. The High Commissioner of New Caledonia calls on residents to stay at home, or to limit their travel as much as possible. “We are in a situation that I would describe as insurrectional“, worried Louis Le Franc, during a press conference on Wednesday. “The time must be for appeasement (…) the call for calm is imperative“, he demanded, before reporting “exchanges of buckshot between rioters and civil defense groups in Nouméa and Paita” and said he had called in the elite Raid police officers to prevent a group of rioters who were heading towards a gas depot.

“I’ll let you imagine what will happen if militias start shooting at armed people“, insisted the High Commissioner: “On is in a mortal spiral, these young people that I describe as rioters must stop“.

Some residents, terrified, set up their own protection through groups, called “vigilant neighbors”: “We organized ourselves with internet groups on social networks to give each other information every night in real time, on what is happening in the street at a particular time,” explains Nadine. She lives in the Vallée-des-Colons district of Nouméa with her son and her husband where barricades were erected before the curfew came into force. She only left her house when forced to put out the fires started in her street. She assures her: if she saw a few firefighters and police officers pass by, the violence is also starting again.

Proof of the situation of growing insecurity, amateur videos posted on social networks. In images posted on Facebook, we see men walking in an area of ​​Nouméa. They are helmeted and armed with iron bars and sticks: they keep watch, assures Nadine.

“Neighborhoods of Nouméa have set up militias, with patrols and people who are unfortunately armed because they are afraid. We are afraid.”

In a video published on In another video from La 1ère, we can see law enforcement giving instructions of caution and calm to these residents.

“In some other places there are no militias because there is no organizational capacity to do socontinues Nadine. It depends on the geography of the neighborhoods, the populations who live there, and the diversity that reigns there. There is a rise in power which seems to have taken place during the night.” She now fears that the violence will intensify further.

For his part, the Minister of the Interior and Overseas Territories Gérald Darmanin spoke of “hundreds“injured in New Caledonia since Monday, including one”hundred“of police officers and gendarmes. The police carried out a total of 140 arrests in the urban area of ​​Nouméa alone, according to a new report drawn up by Louis Le Franc.