The situation remains “difficult” on Sunday in New Caledonia, where the police are still struggling to control certain districts of Greater Nouméa and where the international airport will remain closed to commercial flights at least until June 2. This will bring to almost three weeks the closure of the airport, decided the day after the start of violent riots on the French archipelago in the Pacific, and extended several times since.
The road leading to La Tontouta international airport, very degraded in places, is still littered with vehicle wrecks, according to local sources. French people and foreign tourists stuck on the archipelago should continue to be evacuated from Magenta airfield via military flights chartered by France, Australia or New Zealand.
Towards a referendum?
The French territory of the South Pacific has been plunged into chaos since May 13, against a backdrop of the adoption in Paris of a reform providing for the unfreezing of the local electoral body, that is to say its enlargement to people established for at least 10 years on Caledonian territory. Supporters of independence believe that this thaw risks “minoritizing” the indigenous Kanak people even more. “I can go to the referendum at any time” on this reform already adopted by the Senate then the National Assembly, argued the head of state, Emmanuel Macron, in an interview with the newspaper The Parisian.
An idea which does not convince Philippe Gomès, one of the leaders of the moderate loyalists, who sees it as “dangerous nonsense”. “So in 2024, we would ask the French people to decide the question of the Caledonian electorate outside of any local consensus,” said the leader of the non-independence party. Caledonia Together in a press release.
Neighborhoods still blocked
On the ground, the situation “remains very difficult for the inhabitants of the island, particularly in Greater Nouméa”, noted Saturday evening the Minister Delegate for Overseas, Marie Guévenoux, in a press release. Lifting the dams, securing the sites and clearing them will take a lot of time. If the situation is calmer and a semblance of daily life is reborn in places, some neighborhoods remain difficult to access for the police: in Koutio, in the town of Dumbéa, a bank burned down in the night, indicated a local source.
Many roadblocks are still in place, despite the efforts of more than 2,700 police and gendarmes deployed who dismantle them during the night. At Vallée-du-Tir, a still smoking tree trunk and new car wrecks across the road bear witness to the clashes of the night.
The body of a young independence fighter repatriated to his island
The death toll from the violence rose to seven on Friday, the seventh being a 48-year-old man whose identity has not been communicated, killed in Dumbéa by a police officer. The latter was indicted on Sunday for fatal assault aggravated by the use of a weapon and placed under judicial supervision. He admitted during his police custody “to having fired a single shot, in a reflex gesture to defend himself, without adjusting his shot towards the victim”, in a “context of strong hostility” towards this police officer and a colleague, whose vehicle was stoned by a “group of 40 to 50 people”.
The remains of a 19-year-old separatist, killed in Nouméa on May 15, were repatriated to Maré, the island where he came from and where he is to be buried on Sunday. An impressive crowd was present to welcome the boat. The lifting of the state of emergency is not happening immediately, Marie Guévenoux said, estimating that this can only be done “on the condition that the roadblocks are lifted and calm returns”.