Today, Saturday, hundreds of French security personnel are trying to restore calm to the French province of Caledonia after a fifth night of riots, looting and unrest that broke out against the backdrop of electoral reform.
The toll of tension in the archipelago located in the Pacific Ocean rose to six dead.
General Nicolas Matthews, commander of the Gendarmerie in New Caledonia, said today, Saturday, “One person was killed and two people were injured in the Cala-Gomen area” in the north of the French territory. A source familiar with the file pointed out that the incident occurred at 14:30 local time (03:30 GMT Saturday morning), and that the dead person and one of the wounded were a father and his son trying to cross a checkpoint set up by the perpetrators of the riots.
Thus, the death toll as a result of the riots rose to six, including two gendarmes, one of whom was killed by accidental shooting from a colleague during a security mission.
French forces seek to restore calm to the archipelago. Teams of marines and heavily armed police patrolled the capital, Noumea, where the streets were covered in the effects of nighttime violence.
Eyewitnesses reported that vehicles and buildings were burning in the Magenta neighborhood, while a riot police unit was deployed in an attempt to impose control over the area.
At night, residents reported hearing gunfire, helicopters flying, and “large explosions” of what appeared to be gas canisters that exploded inside a building that had been set on fire.
Some residents resorted to establishing special protection measures, waiting for calm to return. For days, Elaine (42 years old) has been standing at temporary checkpoints with her neighbors and doing two- to three-hour shifts.
She said, “At night, we hear gunfire and the sounds of explosions… and army helicopters and planes landing.”
The state of emergency was imposed after opposition mounted against a constitutional reform aimed at expanding the number of people allowed to participate in local elections to include all those born in Caledonia and residing there for at least ten years. Independence advocates believe that this “will make the indigenous Kanak people even more of a minority.”
An additional thousand members of the French police and gendarmerie arrived in the archipelago on Thursday night, Friday, to join 1,700 of their colleagues already deployed there.
These new elements are expected to contribute to restoring stability to the three areas of tension in Greater Noumea, which are mainly inhabited by indigenous people.
Ten “leaders” of the Field Action Coordination Cell, the most extremist group in the “Socialist Kanak People’s Liberation Front”, were placed under house arrest on suspicion of sponsoring acts of violence, according to French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.
Local Minister Faimua Muliava warned Saturday that the region was “on a path of destruction,” telling the rioters, “You are only punishing yourselves.”
The Field Action Coordination Cell called on Friday for “calm to break the cycle of violence.”
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