Police patrol the Magenta district of Nouméa, New Caledonia, May 18, 2024 (AFP/Delphine Mayeur)
The State went on the offensive on Sunday in New Caledonia to try to restore “republican order” in the territory, “whatever the cost”, starting with a large-scale operation by gendarmes on the road between Nouméa and the international airport, after six deaths in six days of riots.
The anger of the separatists, provoked by a reform of the electoral body of the South Pacific archipelago, triggered a cycle of violence marked by days and nights of fires, clashes and blockades.
“I want to say to the rioters, stop, return to calm, surrender your weapons,” the High Commissioner of the Republic in New Caledonia, Louis Le, repeated several times during a press briefing on Sunday around 6 p.m. (9 a.m. in Paris). Franc.
“Republican order will be restored, whatever the cost,” insisted the state representative, warning the “rioters”: “if they want to use their weapons, they take all the risks.”
In the absence of commercial flights to and from New Caledonia, suspended since Tuesday, the French executive has given priority to the route between Nouméa and its international airport.
On this strategic axis to allow the resupply of the south of the big island subject to shortages, the State launched Sunday around 6:40 a.m. (9:40 p.m. Saturday in Paris) a vast operation of 600 gendarmes, including around a hundred members of the GIGN, the elite gendarmerie unit.
The operation consisted of sending a convoy from Nouméa to remove all obstacles on this route. It is made up, among other things, of gendarmerie armored vehicles and construction equipment which clear the passage.
– “We are pacifists” –
According to the High Commissioner, around sixty roadblocks have been “pierced” – without clashes despite a few sporadic slight clashes – but the vast majority (around forty) are still blocking the way. The burned carcasses, scrap metal and piled up wood must be cleared “tomorrow and the day after tomorrow” (Monday and Tuesday).
The roads have been damaged in certain places and traffic cannot be restored at this time, he said.
AFP journalists noted that at midday on Sunday, in Nouméa and neighboring towns, traffic for those who wanted to leave the city towards the northwest remained hampered. Independentists filter the passage through numerous roadblocks, made of stones and various devices in particular.
The gendarmes “came by, they cleared away, and we stayed on the side. We are pacifists,” Jean-Charles, in his fifties, told AFP, head wrapped in a scarf and a Kanak flag at the ready. main in La Tamoa, a few kilometers from the airport.
“Once they passed, we put the dam back on. In any case, it is filtering, (…) except at night,” he says.
If AFP journalists were able to reach La Tontouta airport in the afternoon, they had to stop at various roadblocks, some of which were manned by men armed with sticks or bladed weapons.
One of them expressed his intention to stay at all costs: “We are ready to go all the way, otherwise, what’s the point?”
Restoring this circulation is especially urgent since New Zealand and Australia announced on Sunday that they had asked France to be able to land planes, in order to repatriate their nationals.
A street blocked by burned objects and debris, in the Magenta district of Nouméa in New Caledonia, May 18, 2024 (AFP/Delphine Mayeur)
On Saturday, the government of New Caledonia estimated that 3,200 people were stranded in the absence of flights, either because they could not leave the archipelago or because they could not reach it.
The violence left six dead, the latest on Saturday afternoon, a Caldoche (Caledonian of European origin) in Kaala-Gomen, in the North province. The other five dead are two gendarmes and three Kanaks, in the Nouméa metropolitan area.
New Caledonia (AFP/)
In total, “230 rioters were arrested,” according to the High Commission of the Republic.
– “It will all end, believe me” –
Regaining control should be a long-term task for the police, while roads are still cut, the damage continues, and the police still estimate the number of rioters between 3,000 and 5,000. .
“Schools have again been destroyed”, as well as “pharmacies, vital food supply centers, commercial areas”, Louis Le Franc listed on Sunday, noting that “we are starting to run out of food”.
The High Commissioner announced new “harassment operations” by elite police and gendarmerie units (Raid and GIGN) “starting tonight (Sunday to Monday, Editor’s note), where there are hard points”, in the cities of Nouméa, Dumbéa and Païta in particular.
“In the days to come, it will intensify,” he warned, calling on those who have formed “protection groups” to defend their neighborhoods “to keep hope” and “not to commit the irreparable.” , which would cause “a general conflagration”.
“This will all end, believe me,” he promised.
For the population, traveling, buying basic necessities and seeking healthcare becomes more difficult every day. Fewer and fewer businesses are able to open and the numerous obstacles to traffic increasingly complicate the logistics of supplying them, especially in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods.
The resumption of the airport road is “vital” for the passage of logistical convoys to restock medicines and food, “which are starting to run out”, confirmed Mr. Le Franc, explaining that commercial areas must be secured to avoid looting.
A police officer speaks with a resident in Noumea in New Caledonia in front of a queue to enter a supermarket on May 18, 2024 (AFP/Theo Rouby)
The exceptional state of emergency measures are maintained, namely the curfew between 6:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. (9:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. in Paris), the ban on gatherings, the transport of weapons and the sale of alcohol and the banning of the TikTok application.
On Sunday, the government of New Caledonia announced in a press release that middle and high schools would remain closed until May 24 inclusive throughout the territory, due to “the extent of the violence and damage committed”. Schools in the Southern province, by far the most populous, will also keep their doors closed all week.
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© 2024 AFP
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