Eight people were arrested this Wednesday morning, including Christian Tein, the leader of the movement behind the uprising against the reform of the electoral body, the CCAT, the prosecution confirmed to AFP.
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This Wednesday morning, the headquarters of the Caledonian Union, which also houses the offices of the Field Action Coordination Unit (CCAT), was cordoned off by the police. Christian Tein, considered the leader of the CCAT, the organization created in November 2023, was arrested. Seven other people accused by the authorities of being behind the violence that shook the French archipelago in the South Pacific were arrested at the same time, but their identity was not specified at the time.
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Police custody may last up to 96 hours. regarding acts relating to organized crime », Specified the public prosecutor of Nouméa, Yves Dupas in a press release. The Nouméa public prosecutor’s office opened an investigation on May 17, in particular for criminal conspiracy targeting “suspected sponsors” of the riots, including “certain members of the CCAT”. The independence collective had been described as a “mafia organization” by Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin.
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The Caledonian Union denounces these arrests
“ The police entered the offices and took photos, including of documents », Assured Reine Hue, an elected official from the Caledonian Union (UC) of the Province of the Islands. It was the CCAT premises that were targeted, confirmed the public prosecutor, who specified that “ this operation took place without incident “. In a press release, the Caledonian Union denounced these arrests, which were carried out while Christian Tein, also general commissioner of the UC, “ was on his way to Nouméa, where he was to hold a press conference “.
Since May 13, the New Caledonia East in the grip of violent unrest provoked by the adoption by the National Assembly of a constitutional reform bill allowing a thaw of the electoral body, which, according to its opponents, would further marginalize the indigenous Kanak people. The riots, unprecedented since the 1980s on the “Caillou”, left nine dead, including two gendarmes, hundreds of injured and material damage amounting to 1.5 billion euros. More than 3,000 soldiers, gendarmes and police officers were deployed on site.
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