(Nouméa) Several buildings, including a police station and a town hall, were set on fire in New Caledonia during the night from Sunday to Monday, marked by clashes between separatists and the police, leaving one injured, in a resurgence of violence after six weeks of tension.
“The night was agitated and marked by unrest throughout the main island (the main island, editor’s note), on the island of Pins and Maré, requiring the intervention of numerous reinforcements: the forces were attacked order, arson and dams,” the High Commission, representative of the State in this French archipelago in the South Pacific, said in a press release on Monday.
In Dumbéa, north of Nouméa, the main city of New Caledonia, the municipal police premises burned as well as a garage. Four armored vehicles, including one of the latest generation – a Centaur – intervened, noted an AFP journalist.
Clashes took place between the police and separatists in Bourail, a town located less than 200 km north of Nouméa, which resulted in one injured person, AFP learned.
In Nouméa, 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 in Païta (north of Nouméa, Editor’s note),” added the High Commission, stressing that “the territorial brigade of Maré was also attacked” .
Monday morning, many schools were closed due to renewed violence and the expressway leading to the hospital was blocked on both sides.
The archipelago 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.
On Saturday, seven Caledonian independence activists linked to a collective suspected by the French authorities of having orchestrated the unrest against electoral reform were indicted (charged) and sent to mainland France for pre-trial detention.