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“On Thursday early morning, Russian border guards unilaterally removed light buoys placed by Estonia on the Narva River to demarcate the border with Russia,” he said, adding that “the European Union has been monitoring the situation closely from the start in cooperation and solidarity with Estonia and other Member States”
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“This border incident is part of a broader pattern of provocative behaviour and hybrid actions by Russia, including on its maritime and land borders in the Baltic Sea region,” Borrell noted.
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“Such actions are unacceptable. The European Union expects an explanation by Russia about the removal of the buoys, and their immediate return,” he stressed.
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Good morning and welcome back to the Europe blog.
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Send tips and comments to lili.bayer@theguardian.com.
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Police shot dead a 48-year-old man in New Caledonia today, a day after the French president, Emmanuel Macron, visited the island, Reuters reported.
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The police officer used his gun as he and a colleague were attacked by a group of around 15 people, NC La 1ere broadcaster quoted the prosecutor’s office as saying.
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The shooting brings the death toll in New Caledonia to seven in 12 days of upheaval.
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Deadly violence has paralysed New Caledonia, a French overseas territory in the South Pacific, after lawmakers in Paris approved a constitutional amendment to allow recent arrivals to the territory to vote in provincial elections.
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Indigenous Kanak people, who make up about 41% of the population, have responded with anger to the constitutional changes. Local leaders fear it will dilute the Kanak vote and undermine longstanding efforts to secure independence.
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France has sent in thousands of extra police forces. Earlier today authorities had said the situation was “relatively calm,” Reuters reported.
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roadblock is in place during French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Noumea, in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia, on May 23.”,”caption”:”A roadblock is in place during French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Noumea, in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia, on May 23.”,”credit”:”Photo by Ludovic Marin/Reuters”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1716546816000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”06.33 EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1716554614000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”08.43 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1716546816000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”06.33 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”06.33″,”title”:”Police shoot man dead in New Caledonia”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Friday, May 24, 2024 08:43 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First Published Friday, May 24, 2024 06:33 EDT”},{“id”:”66506a728f080a302f01e3d1″,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
A police officer has been taken into custody after shooting and killing a man, the French prosecutor for New Caledonia said today, the Associated Press reported.
\n The officer is believed to have fired one shot, killing a 48-year-old man.
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A statement from the prosecutor said the officer and a colleague were driving in an area north of the capital, Nouméa, on Friday afternoon when they “were physically attacked by a group of around 15 individuals.”
\n The prosecutor said he has opened a voluntary homicide investigation into the shooting — a customary step for French officers in such cases.
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The officer is in custody for questioning.
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Important Events
Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky He is due to meet with Spanish leaders on Monday, Reuters reported, citing Spanish radio station Cadena SER.
An originally planned trip to Spain was postponed due to the situation in the Kharkiv region.
The Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs today expressed solidarity with Estonia, Finland and Lithuania.
“Russia is intensifying its provocative actions,” Poland’s foreign ministry said, adding that it was “closely monitoring the situation together with our allies, who are acting calmly and coolly.”
Russia is stepping up provocative actions on our 🇪🇺 border with 🇪🇪, 🇫🇮 and 🇱🇹.
We express our complete solidarity with 🇪🇪🇫🇮🇱🇹 in the face of these unacceptable and offensive acts.
We are closely monitoring the situation with our allies, who are remaining calm and composed.
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs 🇵🇱 (@PolandMFA) May 24, 2024
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Russia is stepping up provocative actions on our 🇪🇺 border with 🇪🇪, 🇫🇮 and 🇱🇹.
We express our complete solidarity with 🇪🇪🇫🇮🇱🇹 in the face of these unacceptable and offensive acts.
We are closely monitoring the situation with our allies, who are remaining calm and composed.
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs 🇵🇱 (@PolandMFA) May 24, 2024
Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky Today I visited Kharkov.
“The city of Kharkiv and the entire region deserve our support, gratitude and respect, as do all Ukrainian communities and individuals who refuse to bow down to the enemy and do everything in their power to save lives,” he said.
Today I am in Kharkov.
I held a meeting to discuss the situation in the regions and preparations for the heating season. I also received an update on the defense operations, particularly in the Vovchansk region, as well as on the restoration of damaged energy infrastructure.
We paid particular attention to the following: pic.twitter.com/LwrlHwSLIH
— Volodymyr Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa) May 24, 2024
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Today I am in Kharkov.
I held a meeting to discuss the situation in the regions and preparations for the heating season. I also received an update on the defense operations, particularly in the Vovchansk region, and on the restoration of damaged energy infrastructure.
We paid particular attention to the following: pic.twitter.com/LwrlHwSLIH
— Volodymyr Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa) May 24, 2024
In the Monttrai district of Noumea, New Caledonia, activists were waiting for further instructions from the pro-independence party, FLNKS, AFP reported.
“We will continue our protests because it seems the president of the republic does not want to listen to us,” said an activist who gave only his first name, Yamel.
Separatists erected barricades and cut off entire neighborhoods.
Charles Roger, president of the New Caledonia Chamber of Commerce, which runs La Tontouta International Airport, told AFP the airport would suspend commercial flights until at least 9am on Tuesday (22:00 GMT on Monday).
‘Unacceptable’: Borrell says Europe expects explanation from Russia over border incident
The EU’s foreign affairs chief Josep BorrellHe said Europe was waiting for an explanation from Russia over the incident on its border with Estonia.
“Early on Thursday morning, Russian border guards unilaterally removed the lighthouse that Estonia had installed on the Narva River to demarcate the border with Russia,” he said, adding that “from the very beginning, the European Union has been closely monitoring the situation in cooperation and solidarity with Estonia and other member states.”
“This border incident is part of a broader pattern of provocative and hybrid behavior by Russia, including at maritime and land borders in the Baltic Sea region,” Borrell said.
“Such actions are unacceptable and the European Union expects an explanation from Russia for its removal of the buoy and its immediate return,” he stressed.
Police officer arrested in New Caledonia
According to the Associated Press, the French prosecutor’s office in New Caledonia announced today that a police officer had been detained for shooting and killing a man.
An officer fired one shot, apparently killing a 48-year-old man.
The prosecutor’s statement said the officer and a colleague were driving in a northern area of the capital, Noumea, on Friday afternoon when they were “physically attacked by a group of approximately 15 people.”
Prosecutors said they had opened an investigation into the shooting as a case of spontaneous murder, a routine step taken by French authorities in such cases.
The officer has been detained for questioning.
Why is there unrest in New Caledonia?
After French colonisation in the 19th century, New Caledonia officially became a French overseas territory in 1946. In the 1970s, after an influx of foreigners during the nickel boom, tensions rose on the island, with various clashes between Paris and the Kanak independence movement.
The 1998 Nouméa Accords helped end the conflict by providing a path towards gradual self-governance and limiting voting rights to Kanaks and immigrants who had lived in New Caledonia before 1998. The Accords led to three referendums to determine the country’s future, but independence was rejected all three times.
Under the provisions of the Nouméa Agreement, the right to vote in provincial elections was restricted to people who had resided in New Caledonia before 1998 and their children. This measure was intended to increase the representation of the Kanak people, who were an ethnic minority.
The French government came to view the system as undemocratic, and lawmakers approved a constitutional amendment to extend the voting eligibility to anyone who has lived in New Caledonia for at least 10 years.
Read the full explanation here.
Man shot dead by police in New Caledonia
Police today said the French president was shot dead a 48-year-old man in New Caledonia, a day after the latter’s death. Emmanuel MacronReuters reported that he had visited the island.
The police officer and a colleague were attacked by a group of about 15 people who used their guns, NC’s La Lière radio station reported, citing prosecutors.
The shooting brings the death toll in 12 days of unrest in New Caledonia to seven.
Deadly violence has paralyzed New Caledonia, a French overseas territory in the South Pacific, after lawmakers in Paris approved constitutional changes to allow recent arrivals in the territory to vote in state elections.
The indigenous Kanak people, who make up about 41 percent of the population, have reacted angrily to the constitutional changes, with local leaders fearing they will reduce their votes and undermine years of efforts to secure independence.
France has deployed thousands of additional police, and Reuters reported that authorities said early on Monday that the situation was “relatively calm.”
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