France sent troops to the ports and international airport of New Caledonia, banned TikTok and declared a state of emergency on May 16, 2024 after three nights of violent confrontation resulted in the four fatalities and hundreds of injuries. Pro Independence protests mainly led by the indigenous people, are taking place against the French proposal to introduce new voting regulations in the Pacific archipelago.
The situation has escalated into one of the most violent conflicts since the 1980’s resulting in the death of a police officer and several others due to gunfire. The burned debris accumulated on main roads after four days of unrest among the small pieces of rock and cement that seemed to have been thrown due to riots.
Armoured vehicles moved along the city’s palm lined streets which are usually crowded with tourists Fearful Residents in the area constructed makeshift roadblocks by stacking various items such as wooden pallets, wheelbarrows, bedframes, plastic jerricans, tree fronds and scraps of fencing across the streets.
Security forces have place five suspected ringleaders under house arrests as part of the comprehensive French reforms. This action was based on statement by the High Commission which represents the French State in New Caledonia. House searches will be carried out in the incoming hours, it said. More than 200 rioters have been arrested since the clashes broke out the High Commission said. Officials have said that hundreds of people including 64 police have been wounded.
French authorities reported a third night of clashes though international media correspondents in the streets of the capital Noumea said it appeared calmer than previous nights. While residents in certain neighbourhoods sat on garden chairs, operated barricades and displayed makeshift white flags. This symbolises their desire to peacefully monitor the streets.
Onlookers walked slowly around the remains of the shops that had been burned, moving through the twisted shutters shelves that have been looted and packaging that have been left discarded. “We just grabbed what was there in the shops to eat. Soon there will be no shops,” said one woman in a suburb of a capital who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “We need milk for the children. I don’t see it as looting,” she told an international media agency.
France is establishing an air bridge, the high commission said, to rapidly move in troop and police reinforcement, but also bring in essential supplies for the population. French President Emmanuel Macron offered to hold talks with the New Caledonia lawmakers in Paris on May 16, 2024 and called for the resumption of political dialogue. TikTok has also been banned. French PM Gabriel Attal informed a crisis ministerial meeting that soldiers had been sent to protect the ports and international airport which is not open to commercial flights.
He said that the TikTok had been banned because rioters were using it. By May 16, 2024, the international media agencies there could identify less than 20 accounts that were linked to the violence on the platform. New Caledonia is located between Australia and Fiji. It is one of the several territories worldwide which is under French control in the post-colonial period.
France colonised the territory in the latter half of the 19th century giving it a new status different from the other overseas territories of the country. Independence has been rejected in referendums three times but it still has strong support among the Kanak people who have been living in the islands for thousands of years. The State of Emergency allows authorities to implement travel restrictions impose house arrests, and conduct searches. Additionally, there are restrictions on gatherings carrying weapons and alcohol sales in addition to a night curfew.
People went out to protest, the National Assembly of France located 17,000 kilometres away on May 14, 2024 to grant voting rights to the citizens who have resided in New Caledonia for ten years. The reform still requires approval from the joint session of both chambers of the French Parliament. Pro-Independence forces claim that this action would reduce the voting powers of the Kanaks who constitute 41 percent of the population.
Those supporting the reform argue that voters list gave not been updated since 1998 which has deprived island residents who have arrived later from being able to participate in provincial elections. Pro and anti-independence parties issued a joint statement calling for calm and reason to return to the archipelago adding that we are destined to keep living together.
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