French gendarme patrol at a roundabout in Noumea, New Caledonia, Sunday Dec.12, 2021. At least two people were killed and three were seriously injured overnight in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia, French officials there said Wednesday, May 15, 2024, as President Emmanuel Macron convened a meeting of top ministers to discuss the spiraling violence.
| Photo Credit: AP

France imposed an emergency on May 15 in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia for at least 12 days, boosting security forces’ powers to quell deadly unrest in the archipelago where indigenous people have long sought independence.

Armed clashes and other violence that erupted on May 13 following protests over voting reforms have left four people dead, including a gendarme, and injured more than 300, French authorities said.

French military forces were being deployed to protect ports and airports, to free up police and security forces battling looting, arson and other violence, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced as the emergency measures kicked in at 8 p.m. Paris time, which was 5 a.m. Thursday in New Caledonia.

“Nothing can ever justify violence,” Attal said. “Our absolute priority for the next few hours is the return to order and calm.”

The emergency measures give authorities greater powers to tackle the violence, including the possibility of house detention for people deemed a threat to public order and expanded powers to conduct searches, seize weapons and restrict movements, with possible jail time for violators. The last time France imposed such measures on one of its overseas territories was in 1985, also in New Caledonia, the Interior Ministry said.

France’s government also rushed hundreds of police reinforcements to the island, where pro-independence supporters have long pushed to break free from France. The Interior Ministry said 500 additional officers were expected within hours on the archipelago to bolster 1,800 police and gendarmes already there.

There have been more than 130 arrests so far, French authorities said.

Speaking to broadcaster France Info on May 15, Anne Clément, a resident of the capital, Noumea, hailed security forces reinforcements because the unrest has morphed into “a real urban guerrilla war.”

People have been confined to their homes for two days, terrified by “shooting from all sides,” Clément, a nursery director, told the French broadcaster. “We’ve stopped eating, we’ve stopped living, we’ve stopped sleeping,” she added.

“I don’t see how we could get out of the situation without the state of emergency,” she said.

There have been decades of tensions on the archipelago between Indigenous Kanaks seeking independence and descendants of colonizers who want to remain part of France.

After a two-hour security meeting Wednesday with French President Emmanuel Macron and top ministers, Attal told parliament in Paris that the state of emergency would aim “to restore order in the shortest time possible.”

This week’s unrest erupted as the French legislature in Paris debated amending the French constitution to make changes to voter lists in New Caledonia. The National Assembly on Wednesday approved a bill that will, among other changes, allow residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years to cast ballots in provincial elections.

Opponents say the measure will benefit pro-France politicians in New Caledonia and further marginalize indigenous Kanak people. They once suffered from strict segregation policies and widespread discrimination. The vast archipelago of about 270,000 people east of Australia is 10 time zones ahead of Paris.

From Macron down, France’s government made repeated calls for an end to the violence.

The territory’s top French official, High Commissioner Louis Le Franc, warned of the possibility of “many deaths” if calm isn’t restored. A police station was among dozens of places that were attacked, with shots fired, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said. Posting on X, he said a gendarme who had been shot was among the dead.

In Paris, Mr. Macron emphasized the need for political dialogue. Rival political parties in New Caledonia also jointly called for calm, saying in a statement: “We have to continue to live together.”

An overnight curfew in New Caledonia was extended to Thursday. Schools and the main airport remained closed, Le Franc said.

“The situation is not serious, it is very serious,” Le Franc said. “We have entered a dangerous spiral, a deadly spiral.”

He said some residents in the capital and neighboring municipalities formed “self-defense groups” to protect their homes and businesses.

New Caledonia became French in 1853 under Emperor Napoleon III, Napoleon’s nephew and heir. It became an overseas territory after World War II, with French citizenship granted to all Kanaks in 1957.

A peace deal between rival factions was reached in 1988. A decade later, France promised to grant New Caledonia political power and broad autonomy and hold up to three successive referendums.

The three referendums were organized between 2018 to 2021 and a majority of voters chose to remain part of France instead of backing independence. The pro-independence Kanak people rejected the results of the last referendum in 2021, which they boycotted because it was held at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Paris:

France has declared a state of emergency on the Pacific archipelago of New Caledonia after violent protests flared up against electoral reforms killing one police officer and three others, the Washington Post reported.

Notably, New Caledonia is a French overseas territory located hundreds of miles off Australia’s eastern coast.

The violence — the worst in decades — is the latest flash point in long-running tensions over Paris’ role in the archipelago.

“On behalf of the government, I reiterate before you the call for calm and appeasement,” government spokeswoman Prisca Thevenot said Wednesday at a news briefing following a ministerial meeting.

She paid tribute to the four people who lost their lives in the unrest and called for “the resumption of political dialogue” to find a solution to the violence.

The state of emergency came into effect at 8 pm (Paris time) on Wednesday and 5 am in Noumea, the island’s capital.

According to French law, a state of emergency can be declared in situations of “imminent danger resulting from serious breaches of public order.”

It grants local authorities expanded powers, to cut off public access to certain areas, for example, and to execute searches and prevent certain individuals from entering those areas if they are deemed to represent a threat to public safety, the Washington Post reported.

“All violence is intolerable and will be the subject of a relentless response to ensure the return of order,” a statement released by French President Emmanuel Macron’s office on Wednesday read.

Reacting to the violent protest, French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said, “Since the start of the week, New Caledonia has been hit by violence of a rare intensity.” He added that a state of emergency “will allow us to roll out massive means to restore order.”

https://x.com/GabrielAttal/status/1790843748928135470

The unrest began on Monday as French lawmakers prepared to vote on a decision to expand voting rights in the territory. However, critics argue that this could marginalize the Indigenous Kanak population and benefit pro-French politicians. The National Assembly adopted the revision overnight.

But, for the legislation to become a law, both chambers of parliament still must vote a final time, the Voice of America reported.

Groups representing the Kanak people — who make up about 40 per cent of the territory’s 3,00,000-strong population — have long sought independence, while the descendants of European colonizers wish to remain part of France, according to the Washington Post.

Under the 1998 Noumea Accord, which helped end a decade of unrest, voting was to be restricted to Kanaks and individuals born before 1998. But, the new constitutional measure will allow anyone who has been a resident of New Caledonia for 10 years to vote in local elections — diluting the power of the Kanaks.

“We feel oppressed, we’re angry,” Voice of America quoted a woman as saying to the Caledonia TV. She questioned whether people in France were listening to Kanaks like herself.

French Minister of the Interior and Overseas Territories Gerald Darmanin told RTL French radio early Wednesday that “hundreds” of people were injured, including about 100 police officers and gendarmes whose barracks were attacked with axes and live ammunition.

“Calm must absolutely be restored,” he said. “There are hundreds of injured in New Caledonia, dozens of houses and businesses that have been burned, set alight.”

The French High Commission informed on Wednesday that at least 130 people had been arrested. It also reported “numerous” incidents of arson and looting against businesses, infrastructure, and public buildings. The mission added that there had been an attempted ‘prison break’.

The French government has announced the deployment of additional police officers and gendarmes as reinforcements.

French authorities also imposed an overnight curfew and banned gatherings in the capital, Noumea. New Caledonia’s La Tontouta International Airport is closed to commercial flights.

The mineral-rich New Caledonia was annexed by France in 1853, and all inhabitants were given French citizenship in 1957. However, the territory has seen decades of tensions between Kanaks and European descendants over the issue of independence, according to the Washington Post.

In addition to the rules on voting rights, the 1998 Noumea agreement set out provisions for three referendums to decide New Caledonia’s future, but each one rejected ‘independence’. Notably, the last vote, held in December 2021 was boycotted by pro-independence parties, because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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