A man, injured on May 29 by a gendarme north of Nouméa, succumbed to his injuries, bringing to nine the number of people who have died since the start of the unrest in New Caledonia, AFP learned on Tuesday from sources close to the matter. and high commission of the Republic.
The man, who opened fire on the police, was shot and wounded by the GIGN on the evening of May 29 in Dumbéa, and was hospitalized with a “life-threatening prognosis”.
According to the version of the facts relayed on May 30 by the public prosecutor of Nouméa, Yves Dupas, the elite gendarmes, alerted to the presence of a group of alcoholic individuals, found themselves faced with around “fifteen ‘individuals observing very hostile behavior’.
Six shots fired
One of them had fired a rifle towards the members of the GIGN and a gendarme then opened fire “six times towards the shooter”, in a “response action”.
“The forensic findings showed the presence of two projectiles, one in the thorax and the other in the shoulder,” reported the prosecutor.
Two open investigations
Two investigations had been opened: one targeting the injured man for “attempted murder of a person holding public authority”, the other concerning a search for “the causes of the injuries on the man arrested” by the GIGN, according to the prosecutor, affirming to favor the thesis of “self-defense”.
Our file on the crisis in New Caledonia
This is the ninth death, including those of two gendarmes, since May 13 and the start of riots and violence following a constitutional reform project aimed at thawing the electoral body, which is opposed by Kanak separatists.