(AFP) – French troops have cleared around 60 obstacles to clear the way from New Caledonia’s conflict-hit capital to the airport, but have yet to reopen the route, a senior government official said on Sunday. did.
And after six nights of violence that left six people dead and hundreds injured, security forces will launch “harassment” raids to retake other parts of the Pacific territory, New Caledonia’s representative to the French government, Louis Le Fran said in a televised speech.
High Commissioner for the Central Government Le Frans warned extremists behind the violence that “republican order will be restored at all costs”.
The Pacific island nation of 270,000 people has been roiled since Monday by unrest sparked by France’s plan to impose new voting rules that would give tens of thousands of non-indigenous residents the right to vote.
The region has long been plagued by ethnic tensions and Kanak opposition to French rule.
TOP SHOT – A security official looks on from an armored vehicle in Noumea, New Caledonia, France’s Pacific territory, on May 18, 2024. Hundreds of French security officials tried to restore order in the Pacific island nation of New Caledonia on May 18, the fifth night of rioting, looting and violence. (Photo by Delphine Mayeur/AFP) (Photo by DELPHINE MAYEUR/AFP, Getty Images)
Authorities said 600 heavily armed police took part in an operation on Sunday to retake a 60-kilometer (40-mile) stretch of highway from Nouméa to the airport, which has been closed to commercial flights since the riots broke out.
The local government estimates that around 3,200 people are stranded in New Caledonia or unable to return home from abroad because their flights have been cancelled.
Sixth death recorded in anti-colonial riots in French New Caledoniahttps://t.co/SEeNlnEZy7
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) May 18, 2024
Australia and New Zealand are asking France for permission to operate evacuation flights for their nationals.
Le Franc said some 60 roadblocks set up by pro-independence groups had been “broken through” without violence.
But officials added that the route was full of car debris, burnt wood and metal, and only 15 of the barricades had been removed. Le Fran said roads were also damaged in several places.
A police officer interacts with a man as others queue to enter a supermarket in the Magenta district of Nouméa, New Caledonia, French Pacific region, May 18, 2024. Anger over France’s plans to impose new voting rules has spiraled into some of the deadliest violence. It has been 40 years on the archipelago of 270,000 people, located between Australia and Fiji, 17,000 kilometers (10,600 miles) from Paris. (Photo by Theo Rouby/AFP) (Photo by: THEO ROUBY/AFP, Getty Images)
AFP journalists en route were eventually able to reach the airport, but found several roadblocks reinstalled by separatists.
Mr Le Franc said police forces would launch a “harassment operation” within hours to retake “hardcore” areas in Nouméa and the towns of Danbear and Paita.
Le Fran said “the violence will intensify further in the coming days” in areas controlled by independence activists. “If they want to use weapons, they’re going to take the worst risks.”
“I say to the rioters: stand still, be calm and lay down your weapons,” Le Fran said, adding that the crisis remained “unprecedented” and “grave”.
