- Police in New Caledonia shot and killed a man on Friday evening, a day after President Emmanuel Macron visited the country to try to ease tensions, amid riots.
- The local prosecutor’s office said the officer used his weapon when he and his colleagues were attacked by a group of about 15 people.
- The death of the 48-year-old man brings the number of people killed in 12 days of unrest to seven.
Police shot and killed a man in New Caledonia, a country hit by riots on Friday evening, a day after President Emmanuel Macron visited the French-administered Pacific island nation in an attempt to ease tensions, local media reported, citing local prosecutors.
The police officer and his colleague were attacked by a group of about 15 people and used their guns before being shot, N.C. broadcaster La Lière quoted a prosecutor as saying.
Prosecutors’ offices did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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As other local media reported, the 48-year-old man’s death brings to seven the number of people killed in 12 days of unrest that began with a dispute over electoral reform and was fuelled by stark economic disparities between the indigenous Kanak people and people of European descent.
French President Emmanuel Macron visits the central police station in Noumea, France’s Pacific territory of New Caledonia, May 23, 2024. Police shot and killed a man in New Caledonia, where violence continues, on Friday evening, a day after Macron visited the island in an attempt to ease tensions. (LUDOVIC MARIN/POOL via REUTERS/File Photo)
During a day visit on Thursday, Macron suspended reforms that would have given voting rights to thousands of French residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years, but would dilute the voting power of ethnic Kanaks, who make up 41 percent of the population.
The president did not agree to the separatists’ demand to revoke independence, but said he wanted to try to reach a comprehensive political agreement on the islands’ future over the coming weeks.
The French government has deployed thousands of additional police forces in recent days in an attempt to restore calm, and authorities said on Monday the situation was “relatively calm”.
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Police removed about 100 checkpoints across New Caledonia on Friday.
The island territory is marked by severe economic disparities, according to census data: the largest community, the indigenous Kanak people, have a poverty rate of 32.5 percent, compared to 9 percent for non-Kananks, according to the 2019 census.
France colonized New Caledonia in 1853 and made it an overseas territory in 1946, granting rights to the Kanak people.
