Tensions are coming down a notch in New Caledonia. Since 5 a.m. in Nouméa, Tuesday May 28 (8 p.m. in Paris Monday), the state of emergency has been lifted after a dozen days. Monday, the FLNKS and the CCAT, the main independence groups, had called on their activists to “loosen the vise” on the road blockade points installed in recent weeks. If these requests are not unanimous on the ground, as reported by Nouvelle-Calédonie La 1ère, they contribute to the return to calm desired by the government. Follow our live stream.
Major police reinforcements on the way. In parallel with this measure, intended to encourage discussions, the Elysée announced the sending “in the next few hours” of “seven additional mobile force units, or 480 mobile gendarmes” in New Caledonia, in a press release published on the night of Sunday May 26 to Monday May 27. These new reinforcements will bring to 3,500 the number of members of the police deployed in the archipelago, where two gendarmes died during the riots.
The situation remains difficult in several neighborhoods. Tensions are gradually falling in Nouméa and its surrounding area, even if traces of clashes were visible in the Vallée-du-Tir district, an independentist stronghold. Elsewhere, many dams have been cleared. Others are still in place, but deserted.
Evacuations are still underway. French people and foreign tourists stuck on the archipelago should continue to be evacuated from Magenta airfield via military flights chartered by France, Australia or New Zealand. On Monday, it is the Polynesians stuck in New Caledonia for two weeks who should be able to return home.