Sydney:
Armed forces were protecting New Caledonia’s two airports and port after a third night of violent riots that killed four people, the Pacific island nation’s top French official said on Thursday morning, adding that at least four alleged instigators were under house arrest.
In three municipalities on the French-ruled island, gendarmes faced around 5,000 protesters, including between 3,000 and 4,000 in the capital Noumea, French High Commissioner Louis Le Franc said in a televised press conference.
Two hundred people were arrested and 64 police officers and police were injured, while road barricades erected by protesters caused a “terrible situation” in the supply of medicine and food to the population, he added.
France declared a state of emergency in New Caledonia that came into force at 5am local time (6pm GMT Wednesday), giving authorities additional powers to ban gatherings and ban people from moving around the island.
Police reinforcements, adding 500 officers to the 1,800 normally present on the island, were sent after protesters set fire to vehicles and businesses and looted stores.
Noumea resident Yoan Fleurot told Reuters in a Zoom interview that he saw looting and property destruction. Some store owners willingly allowed their shelves to be raided, begging that their stores not be destroyed, he said.
Fleurot said he is armed with a 16-gauge gun and has video surveillance installed in his home, adding that he has only ventured out in daylight to check on his parents or their property.
Roadblocks were difficult to pass and he was subjected to insults and threats of violence, he said.
“I’m from New Caledonia, but I don’t know my country anymore,” he said.
“Caledonia will have difficulty recovering from this crisis… Everything, 80%, is destroyed,” he added.
Main and secondary roads in Noumea were blocked by barricades of burning cars and carcasses, some booby-trapped with gas bottles and ignition systems, French official Le Franc said.
“I appeal to CCAT leaders to stop these actions, which are murderous and deadly actions that can leave families in mourning,” he said, referring to the Field Action Coordination Cell (CCAT), which organized the protests that started on Monday.
He said CCAT was “an organization of thugs that engages in acts of violence” and differentiated it from the main pro-independence party, the FLNKS, and other pro-independence political groups.
FLNKS condemned the violence and called for dialogue to resolve the situation.
There were also clashes overnight between active CCAT members and self-defense groups or militias that were formed to protect themselves, he said, adding that militias also violate curfews and the ban on carrying weapons.
Riots have broken out over a new bill, adopted by lawmakers in Paris on Tuesday, that will allow French residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years to vote in provincial elections – a move that some local leaders fear will dilute the vote. Kanak indigenous people.
Three young Kanak men died in the riots and a 24-year-old police officer died from gunshot wounds.
The state of emergency will last 12 days and authorities have also banned the video app TikTok.
The electoral reform is the latest flashpoint in a decades-long dispute over France’s role on the mineral-rich island, which lies in the southwest Pacific, about 1,500 km (930 miles) east of Australia.
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