PARIS (AP) — At least two people died and three were seriously injured overnight in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia, French media reported Wednesday, as President Emmanuel Macron called a meeting of senior ministers to discuss the escalation of violence.
It was the third day of violent unrest over a constitutional reform promoted by Paris that has shaken the archipelago, which has long sought independence.
The special meeting of the defense and security council called by Macron for Wednesday typically brings together a limited group of officials, including Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and the ministers of defense, interior, economy and foreign affairs.
On Tuesday, the French Interior Ministry sent police reinforcements to New Caledonia, which long served as a prison colony and now hosts a French military base. Four mobile gendarmerie squads are being deployed as reinforcements, including 15 gendarmes from an elite intervention unit.
French broadcaster BFM reported that two people were killed and three seriously injured in the disturbances overnight.
French authorities in the territory said more than 130 people have been arrested since Monday in violence ravaging the archipelago, with decades of tensions between indigenous Kanaks seeking independence and descendants of colonizers who want to remain part of France.
Clashes between police and protesters continued in and around the capital, Nouméa, despite a curfew and ban on gatherings.
Schools were closed “until further notice” and the main airport, La Tontoura, “remains closed to commercial flights”.
The territory’s top French official, High Commissioner Louis Le Franc, warned that if calm is not restored there will be “many deaths” in the Nouméa metropolitan area, where voting rights protests turned violent on Tuesday.
“The situation is not serious, it is very serious,” said Le Franc. “We have entered a dangerous spiral, a mortal spiral.”
The unrest began on Monday with a protest against France’s efforts to expand voter lists that would benefit pro-French politicians in New Caledonia and further marginalize the indigenous Kanak people, who once suffered from strict segregation policies and discrimination. widespread.
On Wednesday, France’s National Assembly adopted a constitutional revision reforming the territory’s electoral body, with 351 legislators voting in favor and 153 against the bill.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24598704/236626_Nanoleaf_Essentials_Matter_JTuohy_0004.jpg?w=300&resize=300,300&ssl=1 "Apple Home brings adaptive lighting to Matter smart lights in iOS 18")
