‘High-calibre weapons’ fired in riots on French Pacific island
Rioters fired “high-calibre weapons” at police during a night of violent unrest and looting on the island of New Caledonia, the French Pacific territory’s high commissioner has said.
High Commissioner of the Republic Louis Le Franc told reporters that “there have been no deaths” but “shots were fired at the gendarmes using high calibre weapons and hunting rifles”.
The unrest erupted on Monday in the French-run archipelago as protesters demonstrated against proposed voting reforms that have angered separatists.
At least two car dealerships and a bottling factory in Noumea were set on fire in arson attacks. Several supermarkets in the capital and neighbouring towns Dumbea and Mont-Dore were looted.
Sylvie, whose family has lived in New Caledonia for generations, said: “The police station nearby was on fire and a car was too, in front of my house. There was non-stop shouting and explosions, I felt like I was in a war. We are alone. Who is going to protect us?”
On Monday night groups of young masked or hooded demonstrators took over several roundabouts and confronted police, who responded with non-lethal rounds. Several vehicles were torched during violent clashes.
A total of 36 people were arrested and 30 police officers were injured, authorities confirmed. A night-time curfew, a ban on public gatherings, and a ban on alcohol sales are now in place until 6am on Wednesday.
Schools, colleges and the international airport are closed until further notice.
The high commission, the representative of the French state in New Caledonia, said: “Very intense public order disturbances took place last night [Monday] in Noumea and in neighbouring municipalities, and are still ongoing at this time.
The New Caledonia government appealed for “reason and calm” and called on “all Caledonians to demonstrate a sense of responsibility” while the commission said it was “massively mobilising internal security and civil security forces”.
The unrest comes as a constitutional reform is being debated in the national assembly in Paris. It aims to expand the electorate in the territory’s provincial elections.
France vowed in the Noumea Accord of 1998 to gradually give more political power to the Pacific island territory of nearly 300,000 people.
Under the agreement, New Caledonia has held three referendums over its ties with France, all rejecting independence.
The pro-independence Indigenous Kanaks rejected the result of the last referendum held in December 2021, which they boycotted due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Noumea Accord has also meant that New Caledonia’s voter lists have not been updated since 1998 – meaning that island residents who have arrived from mainland France or elsewhere anytime in the past 25 years do not have the right to take part in provincial polls.
The French government has branded the exclusion of one out of five people from voting as “absurd”, while separatists fear that expanding voter lists would benefit pro-France politicians and “further minimise the Indigenous Kanak people”.
During a visit to the territory last year, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said he wanted a revised constitutional status for New Caledonia to be in place by the beginning of 2024.
Mr Macron has been seeking to reassert his country’s importance in the Pacific region, where China and the United States are vying for influence but France has territories such as New Caledonia and French Polynesia.
