return of violence after the transfer to France of independence figures

A man was injured during clashes which broke out in response to the departure for French prisons of several pro-independence figures including Christian Tein, the spokesperson for the Field Action Coordination Unit (CCAT).

New outbreak of violence on “le Caillou”. New Caledonia flared up again on the night of Sunday June 23 to Monday June 24 after the transfer to France, for incarceration, of seven Caledonian independence figures, including Christian Tein, the spokesperson for the Cell of coordination of field actions (CCAT), suspected of having orchestrated the riots there. “The night was agitated and marked by unrest throughout the great land [l’île principale]on the island of Pins and Maré, requiring the intervention of numerous reinforcements: attacks by the police, arson and roadblocks”assured Monday in a press release the High Commission, representative of the French State in New Caledonia.

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. 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!”

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. Monday, in the Vallée-du-Tir district, a police unit dislodged rioters from a burning roadblock on a roundabout, a police officer told AFP.

The High Commission reported “several fires brought under control”particularly in Ducos and 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”.

The South Pacific archipelago has experienced weeks of violence since May 13, due to the challenge to an electoral thaw bill. The events left nine dead, including two gendarmes, and immense damage, amounting to more than a billion euros.