IA burnt-out car lies abandoned in the middle of a main road in Rivière-Salé, north of Nouméa. After days of violence, masked youths wave Kanak flags as vehicles pass by. The surrounding area is in ruins. Storefronts with burnt-out facades, burnt buildings, and debris on pavements and roads. A group of young people is wandering the area.
The violence that erupted last week is the worst in New Caledonia since riots by independence activists gripped the French Pacific region in the 1980s.
Anger over France’s plan to impose new voting rules has grown on the archipelago of 270,000 people. The plan would expand the right of New Caledonia’s French residents to vote in local elections, and some fear it will dilute the vote of the indigenous Kanak people. The Kanak people make up about 40% of the population.
The images pouring out of Nouméa are alarming, with cars, shops and buildings set on fire and plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky above the capital. Angry rioters also set up barricades on roads, cutting off access to medicine and food. A 12-day state of emergency was declared on May 15, and a nationwide curfew remained in place.
Hundreds of troops and armed police have been deployed to restore order and maintain peace. As of Friday, five people were killed, including two police officers. The other three were Canucks.
On Friday, local authorities said the situation had “calmed down” as hundreds more French marines began arriving.
But unrest continues to be reported despite appeals for calm from political groups, particularly the pro-independence parties most furious about the planned voting changes.
“We don’t want our people to disappear. We will fight until Kanaki is released,” said two rioters who did not wish to be named. They were standing near a roundabout in Nouméa, the capital of New Caledonia, when their vehicle burst into flames.
The men, both in their 20s, clashed with police but reportedly resisted the vandalism.
“We don’t loot stores. I tell my brothers we won’t do that, we won’t set fires, but they don’t listen to anyone anymore,” one person said.
Fear reigns in the southern part of the city, where mostly Europeans live. People organized themselves into groups and erected barricades to protect their homes. Many have guns.
Jerome’s family has lived in New Caledonia for several generations. He lives in the Sainte-Marie area and is married to a Kanak woman. He says his heart is broken.
“The neighbors are furious, armed and ready to fire, so I’m trying to calm them down. How do we get together again after that?” he says.
The frustrations that culminated in deadly violence this week have been building for years. The electoral law amendments are the latest flashpoint in long-running tensions over France’s role on the island.
Although New Caledonia has rejected independence three times in referendums, the cause remains strong among the Kanak people, whose ancestors have lived on the island for thousands of years. A third referendum to be held in 2021 is still being objected to by pro-independence groups who had called for a postponement due to the coronavirus crisis. Nevertheless, it was enforced and boycotted by secessionists. This has led to growing discontent ever since.
Colonized by France in the late 19th century, New Caledonia enjoys a special status with several regional powers transferred from Paris.
French lawmakers this week pushed ahead with a plan to allow outsiders who moved to New Caledonia at least a decade ago to vote in elections in the region. Pro-independence forces argue that this would weaken the Kanak vote.
The proposal must be approved by both houses of the French parliament by the end of the year. President Emmanuel Macron has said French lawmakers will vote to adopt constitutional reforms by the end of June unless New Caledonia’s opponents can strike a new deal.
Opposition to voting changes in the French territory has been growing in recent months. The Coordination Unit for Action on the Field (CCAT), created in November last year, is promoting the protest movement. It is a branch of the Union Caledoniennes, FLNKS, a pro-independence party.
The group is fiercely opposed to a constitutional amendment proposed by France’s Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin to expand the number of voters, and frustrated by the inability of pro-independence politicians to make their voices heard. month, mobilizing young people in working-class neighborhoods.
When CCAT called on people to rally against electoral law changes in April, tens of thousands of people, many young people, flocked from across the territory to march through the streets of Nouméa.
This message is appealing in a country with significant inequality, where the majority of the population is young. New Caledonia has mineral wealth and is one of the world’s largest nickel producers, but the wealth is unevenly distributed.
Despite attempts to reduce equality gaps and improve access to employment, Kanak people continue to be underrepresented in positions of power and responsibility.
Kanak people typically have lower levels of education than non-Indigenous Caledonians. They also make up a large portion of the prison population, contributing to a sense of frustration, particularly among Kanak youth living in urban areas.
French Justice Minister Eric Dupont-Moretti called on prosecutors to “take the strongest possible action against the perpetrators of the violence,” but local business groups said the damage, concentrated around Nouméa, would amount to 200 million yen. Estimated in euros.
Nouméa hospital representative Thierry de Glerin said he was mainly concerned about patients as the situation worsened.
“We estimate that three or four people may have died due to lack of access to health care,” he said, adding that road closures made it difficult to transport patients and health workers to the facility. Ta.
Although the hospital’s operating rooms are open 24 hours a day and staff are prepared for any crisis, de Gresslin said he is concerned about the future.
“We are in an urban guerrilla situation, with gunshot wounds occurring every night,” he said. “We are ready to face this.”
Agence France-Presse and Associated Press contributed to this report
