For a week, Nouméa has been the scene of violence, in reaction to a constitutional reform decried by the separatists, which provides for the thawing of the electorate in the provincial elections, crucial in the archipelago. This thaw would have the consequence of marginalizing the voices of the indigenous Kanak community, denounce the separatists. So, should we backpedal and postpone this reform as requested by the mayor of Nouméa?
“It’s time for the circus to stop”
His withdrawal would be a capitulation to “the thugs, the rioters, the violent”, asserted Marion Maréchal, head of the list of the Reconquest party! in the European elections. “There were three referendums which were organized, while 40,000 French people were prohibited from voting for more than 30 years, precisely so as not to disadvantage the independence vote. Despite this, the Caledonians, three times, made their decision known. desire to be French, it is time for the circus to stop,” she thundered during La Grande interview Europe 1/CNews on Tuesday.
“Now, it is the return of the authority of the State, of the law of the Republic, there must be no prospect of a new referendum since it leaves the possibility for the separatists to maintain the pressure, the blackmail, violence,” she added. In this context, the executive decided to mobilize the military “for a time” in order to “protect public buildings” and relieve the police and gendarmes.
“We must ask ourselves the question of activating the state of siege”
But for the head of the Reconquest! list, Emmanuel Macron made two errors: “a terrible lack of anticipation” and “a staffing problem”. “If we see that there is a difficulty in restoring order and security for the French […] “If the State is not able, with the troops it is sending today, to provide a response, we must ask ourselves the question of activating a state of siege in New Caledonia”, she argued. The state of siege is a legislative and constitutional device which allows the transfer of police powers to military authority.
“I fear contagion in other overseas territories”
As the crisis threatens to deepen, “the time is no longer for compromise, the time is no longer for negotiation, we have had 30 years of negotiation, the time has now come for the return of republican order”, decided Marion Maréchal who also said she feared contagion.
“If we allow this anarchy to fester against a backdrop of anti-French hatred and anti-white racism, I fear contagion in other overseas territories. The State must not be able to suggest a form of weakness and once again, there must be no postponement of this electoral thaw. There must be the return of republican order in this territory as in the whole of the metropolis. – she concluded at the microphone of Europe 1. The first evacuation flights must take place this Tuesday to exfiltrate tourists stuck in New Caledonia.