French President Emmanuel Macron called on Wednesday for a meeting of the Defense and National Security Council to discuss the riots that resulted in the deaths of two people and the injury of hundreds in New Caledonia.
Macron canceled a trip to a French region that was scheduled for Wednesday morning, in order to deal with the crisis in the Pacific archipelago, and the weekly cabinet meeting was postponed until the afternoon.
One person was shot dead on Tuesday night, and two were injured in Noumea, New Caledonia, during the riots, according to what was announced by the High Commissioner of the French Republic, Louis Le Fran.
He explained: “Three injured people were taken to the emergency room, and one of them died after being hit by bullets. Not by police or gendarmerie bullets, but by someone who definitely wanted to defend himself.”
He continued: “I leave you to imagine what would happen if militias started shooting at armed people,” describing the situation in the archipelago as “rebellious” and calling for calm.
Le Fran also reported that “an exchange of fire took place between rioters and civil defense groups in Noumea and Paita,” and “an attempt to storm the Saint-Michel gendarmerie detachment.”
The police carried out 140 arrests in the Noumea region, according to a new tally announced by Le Fran.
Hundreds of people, including “about 100 policemen and gendarmes,” were injured in the riots, according to what French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Wednesday.
Darmanin said that the authorities have not yet determined the “circumstances” that led to the shooting death of a person on Tuesday night, and that dozens of homes and shops were set on fire as a result of riots that included protests against a constitutional amendment.
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Constitutional amendment
The first clashes between demonstrators and security forces began on Monday, on the sidelines of a pro-independence march to protest the constitutional amendment being considered by the National Assembly in Paris, which aims to expand the electoral base in regional elections.
The “non-independence” camp supports reform, while the secessionist camp believes that Paris seeks through this to “continue to belittle the status of the indigenous Kanak people,” who represented 41.2 percent of the island’s population in the 2019 census, compared to 40.3 percent 10 years ago.
According to Article 77 of the French Constitution, the electoral base is limited to voters participating in the lists for the 1998 self-determination referendum and their descendants, which excludes residents who arrived after 1998 and many indigenous people.
Under this, about 20 percent of voters are deprived of the right to vote in regional elections.
All gatherings in Noumea, as well as the carrying of weapons and the sale of alcoholic beverages in the archipelago, were prohibited, according to Le Fran, who called on the 270,000 residents of New Caledonia to remain in their homes.
The archipelago’s government announced the closure of middle and high schools until further notice. The international airport was also closed and Air Calan suspended its flights on Tuesday.