A protester waves the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) flag during a demonstration in support of Kanak people at Place de la Republique in Paris on May 16, 2024. France announced on May 16, 2024 that it would send additional security forces to New Caledonia after imposing a state of emergency, following three nights of clashes in its Pacific territory that have left five dead and hundreds wounded against a French plan to impose new voting rules on the archipelago have spiralled into the deadliest violence since the 1980s.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Hundreds of military and armed police reinforcements deployed Friday to the riot-scarred streets of France’s Pacific territory of New Caledonia, seeking to quell clashes that have left five people dead and hundreds injured.

Anger over France’s plan to impose new voting rules spiralled into the deadliest violence in four decades in the archipelago of 270,000 people, which lies between Australia and Fiji — 17,000 kilometres (10,600 miles) from Paris.

In Paris, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said about 1,000 extra security forces were being sent to New Caledonia — adding to the 1,700 already present — while authorities would push for “the harshest penalties for rioters and looters”.

Extra forces began landing Thursday at the French army-controlled La Tontouta International Airport and could be seen moving through the capital Noumea in red berets, toting rifles, gas masks and riot shields.

Using state of emergency powers, security forces had imposed “a calmer and more peaceful situation” around Noumea for the first time since the unrest started on Monday, according to the high commission representing the French state.

But there were “fires at a school and two companies”, it said in a statement Friday.

Smouldering buildings

On Friday morning, AFP journalists saw flames and smoke pouring from a shopping centre, smouldering buildings, dozens of burned-out cars and residents dragging the remnants of vehicles off the roads.

Hundreds of people lined up outside shops for desperately needed food and supplies.

The security reinforcements will impose order “where control is no longer assured”, High Commissioner of the Republic in New Caledonia Louis Le Franc told journalists in Noumea.

Security forces have placed 10 independence activists accused of organising violence under house arrest, according to authorities.

Two gendarmes have been killed: one shot in the head and a second shot in friendly fire, officials said.

Three other people — all Indigenous Kanaks — have also been killed: a 17-year-old and two men aged 20 and 36.

Burning tyres

One person has been arrested on suspicion of killing two Kanaks, French authorities said. Another homicide suspect turned himself in on Friday, they said.

About 200 among an estimated 5,000 “rioters” have been detained, officials said.

Groups of Kanaks have set up roadblocks around the main island, waving the territory’s flag, burning tyres and blocking or slowing traffic.

Other mostly non-Indigenous residents, some armed, piled up garden chairs, crates and other belongings in neighbourhood barricades.

The violence is the worst seen in New Caledonia since violence involving independence radicals rocked the French overseas territory in the 1980s.

TikTok has been banned in New Caledonia under the state of emergency because it was being used by the protesters, authorities said.

The social media giant called the decision “regrettable” in a statement and said that “no request or question, no demand to withdraw content, had been made by local authorities or the French government”.

Between 80 and 90 percent of the grocery distribution network in Noumea — from shops to warehouses and wholesalers — has been “wiped out”, Chamber of Commerce and Industry president David Guyenne said.

The chamber has said about 200 million euros of damage has been carried out.

Voting rules

While New Caledonia has on three occasions rejected independence in referendums, the cause retains strong support among the Kanak people, whose ancestors have lived on the islands for thousands of years.

Colonised by France from the second half of the 19th century, it has special status with some local powers that have been transferred from Paris.

French lawmakers this week pushed forward plans to allow outsiders who moved to New Caledonia at least 10 years ago to vote in the territory’s elections.

Pro-independence forces say that would dilute the vote of Kanaks, who make up about 40 percent of the population.

Voting reform must still be approved by a joint sitting of both houses of the French parliament.

President Emmanuel Macron has said French lawmakers will vote to adopt the constitutional change by the end of June unless New Caledonia’s opposing sides can strike a new deal.

But a videoconference between Mr. Macron and New Caledonian lawmakers planned for Thursday was cancelled as “the different players did not want to speak to one another”, his office said.

Representational image of a Palestinian flag on a barricade protecting the Israeli embassy in Mexico
| Photo Credit: AP

France’s interior minister on Thursday ordered local authorities to ban all pro-Palestinian demonstrations amid a rise in antisemitic acts since Hamas attacked Israel over the weekend. President Emmanuel Macron urged French people not to allow the war in the Mideast erupt into tensions at home.

Soon before Mr. Macron spoke in a televised address to the nation about the Mideast conflict, Paris police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse pro-Palestinian protesters who had defied a ban and demonstrated Thursday against the Israeli government.

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“Let us not bring ideological adventures here (to France) by imitation or by projection. Let us not add national fractures… to international fractures,” Mr. Macron pleaded. “Let us stay united.”

With several French-Israeli citizens believed held hostage by Hamas, Mr. Macron pledged that France would protect its Jewish citizens and be ”ruthless toward all those who bear hate” and noted concerns about hostility toward France’s Muslims too.

Fighting in the Middle East in the past has led to tensions in France, which is estimated to have the world’s third-largest Jewish population after Israel and the U.S., and the largest Muslim population in Western Europe.

Thirteen French citizens in Israel have been killed in the current fighting, Mr. Macron said, with 17 people missing. Many are believed held hostage by Hamas. The Paris prosecutor’s office opened an investigation Thursday into the killings and suspected kidnappings.

The French government has reported 24 arrests for more than 100 antisemitic acts in France since Hamas attacked Israel on Saturday, including verbal abuse, people caught with knives near Jewish schools and synagogues and a drone equipped with a camera spotted over a Jewish cultural centre. More than 2,000 cases of antisemitic speech have been reported to an online watchdog force.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin sent a directive to local prefects on Thursday, seen by The Associated Press, calling for a further tightening of security around Jewish schools, synagogues and other sites.

It said pro-Palestinian demonstrations should be banned and those who defy bans should be arrested, ‘because they are susceptible to disrupt public order.” Pro-Palestinian associations decried the move. The National Collective for a Fair and Lasting Peace between Palestinians and Israelis said it ‘denounces this threat to freedom of expression,” and pledged to continue holding actions to support the Palestinian people.

At the banned Paris protest Thursday, protesters wearing Palestinian flags draped around their shoulders sprayed ‘Free Palestine’ on the monument underpinning Republic Plaza in eastern Paris. Many chanted chanted “We are all Palestinians.” Earlier this week, thousands of people marched in Paris in support of Israel, and the Eiffel Tower was lit up with a Star of David and the blue and white of the Israeli flag.

Other European cities have seen pro-Palestinian demonstrations in recent days as well as pro-Israeli gatherings.

Hamas a terrorist group: Macron

Denouncing Hamas as a terrorist group, Mr. Macron called for peace efforts that would ensure both Israel’s security and a Palestinian state.

“Those who confuse the Palestinian cause with justifying terrorism are committing a moral, political and strategic error,” he said.

Mr. Macron also sought to address the concerns of French-Israeli families whose loved ones have disappeared and are believed kidnapped or killed by Hamas.

Struggling to speak as they sobbed or choked back tears, family members of missing French citizens pleaded Thursday at a news conference in Tel Aviv for help from Macron.

”We will do everything so that these hostages, regardless of their nationality, are freed,” Mr. Macron said.

France’s government organised an evacuation flight Thursday to bring French citizens in Israel to Paris, and other flights are planned in the coming days.