French President Emmanuel Macron visits the central police station in Noumea, France’s Pacific territory of New Caledonia on May 23, 2024. Photo: Via Reuters

President Emmanuel Macron pushed on May 23 for a lifting of protesters’ barricades in riot-hit New Caledonia and pledged that reinforced police forces battling deadly unrest on the French Pacific archipelago “will stay as long as necessary,” even when French security services will be focused in weeks ahead on the massive security operation for the Paris Olympics.

By binning his previously announced schedule to fly across the globe from Paris on his presidential jet, Mr. Macron brought the weight of his office and his personal touch to bear on the crisis that has left six dead and a trail of destruction on the archipelago that is a global source of nickel, used in batteries and other everyday necessities, and where Indigenous Kanak people have long sought independence from France.

Pro-independence Kanak leaders, who a week earlier declined Mr. Macron’s offer of talks by video, turned out on May 23 to greet him in person, bringing them together at a meeting in the capital Nouméa, with rival loyalist leaders who want New Caledonia, which became French in 1853 under Emperor Napoleon III, to remain part of France.

Mr. Macron opened the meeting by calling for a minute of silence for the six people killed in shootings during the violence, including two gendarmes, and read out their names. He subsequently urged local leaders to use their clout to help restore order. He said a state of emergency imposed by Paris the previous week to boost police powers could be lifted only if local leaders call for a clearing away of barricades that demonstrators and people trying to protect their neighborhoods have erected in Nouméa and beyond.

“It’s a simple phrase and it’s best to say because it can have an effect,” Mr. Macron said.

Barricades have turned some parts of Nouméa into no-go zones and made travelling around perilous, including for the sick requiring medical treatment and for families fretting about where to find food and water after shops were pillaged and torched. Unrest continued to simmer even as Mr. Macron jetted in, despite a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew and more than 1,000 reinforcements for the archipelago’s police and gendarmes, now 3,000-strong, the French leader said.

“I will be very clear here. These forces will remain as long as necessary. Even during the Olympic Games and Paralympics [which open in Paris on July 26],” Mr. Macron said.

It was late on May 21 in Paris when he left on the 16,000-kilometre (10,000-mile) trip but, because of the distance and time difference, already on May 23 morning in New Caledonia when he arrived, with his Interior and Defence Ministers in tow.

At Nouméa’s La Tontouta International Airport, used for special evacuation flights for stranded tourists but still closed to commercial services, Mr. Macron said on arrival that he wanted “to be alongside the people and see a return to peace, calm and security as soon as possible”.

Mr. Macron added that he would discuss the resources needed to repair the damage wrought by days of shootings, arson and other violence that has left at least six dead. The destruction is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of euros (dollars).

“We will discuss questions of economic reconstruction, support and rapid response, and the most delicate political questions, as we talk about the future of New Caledonia,” he said. “By the end of the day, decisions will be taken and announcements will be made.”

When asked by a reporter whether he thought a 12-hour visit was enough, Mr. Macron responded, “We will see. I don’t have a limit.”

The violence erupted May 13 as the French legislature in Paris debated amending the French Constitution to make changes to New Caledonia voter lists. The National Assembly approved a bill that will, among other changes, allow residents who have lived in New Caledonia for at least 10 years to cast ballots in provincial elections.

Opponents fear the measure will benefit pro-France politicians in New Caledonia and further marginalize the Kanaks, who once suffered from strict segregation policies and widespread discrimination.

There have been decades of tensions over the issue of independence between the Kanaks and descendants of colonists and others who settled in the territory of 2,70,000 people and want to remain part of France.

Mr. Macron, in the past, has facilitated dialogue in New Caledonia between pro-independence and pro-France factions. The efforts culminated in a 2018 referendum, the first of three, in which New Caledonians voted to remain part of France by a narrow margin.

The violence is the most severe in New Caledonia since the 1980s, the last time France imposed on state of emergency on the archipelago. French authorities say more than 280 people have been arrested.

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.

Sydney:

Armed forces were protecting New Caledonia’s two airports and port after a third night of violent riots that have killed four people, the Pacific Island’s top French official said on Thursday morning, adding at least four alleged instigators were under house arrest.

In three municipalities on the French-ruled island, gendarmes faced about 5,000 rioters, including between 3,000 and 4,000 in the capital Noumea, France’s High Commissioner Louis Le Franc said in a televised press conference.

Two hundred people have been arrested, and 64 gendarmes and police injured, while road barricades put up by the protesters were causing a “dire situation” for medicine and food for the population, he added.

France declared a state of emergency in New Caledonia that came in force at 5 a.m. local time (1800 GMT Wednesday), giving authorities additional powers to ban gatherings and forbid people from moving around the island.

Police reinforcements adding 500 officers to the 1,800 usually present on the island, have been sent after rioters torched vehicles and businesses and looted stores.

Noumea resident Yoan Fleurot told Reuters in a Zoom interview that he has seen looting and destruction of properties. Some storeowners willingly let their shelves be raided, pleading that their shops not be destroyed, he said.

Fleurot said he is armed with a 16-caliber gun and has video surveillance installed around his house, adding he has only ventured out in daylight to check on his parents or his properties.

The roadblocks were difficult to pass through, and he been subjected to insults and threats of violence, he said.

“I am New Caledonian, but I no longer know my country anymore,” he said.

“Caledonia will have a hard time recovering from this crisis… Everything, 80%, is destroyed,” he added.

Main and secondary roads in Noumea were blocked by barricades with burning cars and car carcasses, some with booby traps with gas bottles and ignition systems, French official Le Franc said.

“I am calling on those at the head of the CCAT to stop these actions, which are murderous, deadly actions that can leave families in mourning,” he said, referring to the Field Action Co-ordination Cell (CCAT), which organised the protests that began on Monday.

He said CCAT was “an organisation of thugs which engages in acts of violence”, and differentiated it from the main pro-independence party, FLNKS, and other pro-independence political groups.

FLNKS has condemned the violence and called for dialogue to resolve the situation.

There were also confrontations overnight between active members of CCAT and self-defence groups or militias which were formed to protect themselves, he said, adding the militia are also in breach of the curfew and the ban on carrying weapons.

Rioting broke out over a new bill, adopted by lawmakers in Paris on Tuesday, that will let French residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years vote in provincial elections – a move some local leaders fear will dilute the indigenous Kanak vote.

Three young Kanak have died in the riots, and a 24-year-old police official died from a gunshot wound.

A state of emergency will last for 12 days and authorities have also banned video app TikTok.

Electoral reform is the latest flashpoint in a decades-long tussle over France’s role in the mineral-rich island, which lies in the southwest Pacific, some 1,500 km (930 miles) east of Australia.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)