Vehicles burned, looting, streets blocked: riots broke out during the night from Monday to Tuesday in New Caledonia, a French territory in the Pacific, at a time when deputies are debating in Paris a constitutional revision decried by the archipelago’s separatists .
At the entrance to Nouméa, the Caledonian “capital”, a factory specializing in bottling was completely ravaged by an arson Monday evening, noted an AFP journalist.
Several supermarkets were looted in Nouméa and in the neighboring towns of Dumbéa and Mont-Dore. At least two car dealerships were set on fire, AFP also noted.
During the night from Monday to Tuesday, young masked or hooded demonstrators took over several roundabouts and confronted the police. Fires were lit on the road to obstruct traffic while shots from defensive bullet launchers and de-encirclement grenades were heard throughout the town.
Mutiny in prison
According to a police source, the clashes were particularly violent and characterized by numerous vehicle fires. Inmates started a mutiny at the Nouméa penitentiary center, according to the same source.
Thirty-six arrests took place and 30 gendarmes were injured, according to the authorities.
The first altercations with the police began Monday during the day, on the sidelines of an independence mobilization against a constitutional reform examined Monday in the National Assembly, which aims to expand the electorate in provincial elections, crucial in New -Caledonia.
Established in 1998 by the Nouméa Agreement, which allowed numerous transfers of powers to New Caledonia by the French state, the territory’s electoral body is in fact frozen. This has the consequence, 26 years later, of depriving nearly one in five voters of the right to vote.
For the French Minister of the Interior and Overseas Territories Gérald Darmanin, who carried out this constitutional reform, this provision “is no longer in conformity with the principles of democracy” and “leads to the absurd”.
Behind this rather technical project lies a large part of the institutional future of New Caledonia, as evidenced by the growing tensions on the island.
Two camps oppose each other. That of the non-independenceists, in favor of reform, and that of the separatists who on the contrary see it as a forceful move by the State to “minorize the indigenous Kanak people even further”.
Scheduled at this stage no later than December 15, the provincial vote is essential on the archipelago where the three provinces hold a large part of the powers.
Avalanche of amendments
While a solemn vote was normally scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, the debates in the National Assembly could not be completed during the night, due to a large number of amendments tabled in particular by the group Insoumis (radical left). The new schedule will be implemented on Tuesday morning.
“I have a thought for the police […] and particularly for the gendarmes, from whom we are currently evacuating families threatened with death by demonstrators who do not go through democracy, but through violence, live ammunition, intimidation and death threats. castigated Gérald Darmanin from the podium of the Assembly.
“I hope that everyone on these benches will condemn [ces violences]whatever their political opinions, and will protect our gendarmes and their families who serve the Republic,” he added.
In fear of new incidents, the police must benefit from reinforcements from units specializing in urban violence, AFP learned from a source close to the matter.
A curfew was decreed from Tuesday 6:00 p.m. (07:00 GMT) to Wednesday 6:00 a.m. (7:00 p.m. GMT Tuesday), the state representative in this territory announced in a press release. In addition, any gathering is prohibited in greater Nouméa, as is the carrying of weapons and the sale of alcohol throughout New Caledonia, indicates the high commission which invites the 270,000 inhabitants of the territory to stay home.
The government of New Caledonia, for its part, announced on Tuesday the closure of high schools and colleges until further notice. The international airport is closed and the Aircalin company has suspended its flights for the day on Tuesday.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters, who was due to visit Nouméa this week, postponed his visit “to allow the authorities to concentrate fully on the current situation”.