The riots in New Caledonia have already left four dead since Monday, including a police officer. Emmanuel Macron wants to trigger a state of emergency on the archipelago to try to put an end to the violence.
The essential
- Violent riots continue in New Caledonia this Wednesday, May 15, after the first altercations that occurred on Monday, on the sidelines of an independence mobilization.
- Four people died during the riots. The Elysée announced the death of three people this Wednesday, while a gendarme seriously injured by gunfire died after succumbing to his injuries.
- Emmanuel Macron convened an emergency defense and security council this Wednesday morning. He must request the triggering of a state of emergency in New Caledonia during the council of ministers scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
- The constitutional reform aimed at expanding the electorate in New Caledonia was the starting point of the riots. The text, adopted by Parliament, is highly contested by elected Caledonian independence activists. The government and all local elected officials are calling for calm and a resumption of discussions.
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17:20 – “Nothing can ever justify violence” insists Gabriel Attal
“All of France is mourning” the gendarme who died during the riots in New Caledonia, writes the Prime Minister on X. “Nothing can ever justify violence. Nothing will ever excuse attacking those who protect our Republic,” added Gabriel Attal.
A man died, who wore the uniform of the Republic.
A man died, brutally shot, even while serving his country.
A man died who had his whole life ahead of him.
Nothing can ever justify violence.
Nothing will ever excuse us from…
— Gabriel Attal (@GabrielAttal) May 15, 2024
17:08 – State of emergency declared to “restore order”
Emmanuel Macron decided to trigger a state of emergency in New Caledonia following the defense and security council organized this Wednesday morning. While the council of ministers met at 4:30 p.m., Prime Minister Gabriel Attal must present the decree allowing the establishment of the state of emergency regime “so that we can restore order as quickly as possible ” as he declared to the National Assembly. “Violence is never tolerable or justifiable under any circumstances. I want to salute all the security forces involved. The priority is to regain order, calm and serenity” he added during his speaking in the hemicycle.
17:01 –
The gendarme who died during the riots in New Caledonia was 22 years old and was part of the Melun squadron, according to details from BFMTV. The national gendarmerie expressed its “pain and deep emotion” after the death of the young man in the exercise of his duties.
4:50 p.m. – The death toll has risen to four
While the Elysée announced the death of three people since the start of the riots in New Caledonia early this Wednesday afternoon, the Minister of the Interior confirmed the death of the gendarme who was “seriously injured”. The toll of the violence is increasing further and this is without counting the hundreds of injured that Gérald Darmanin mentioned earlier in the day.
The mobile gendarme seriously injured by gunfire in New Caledonia has just died. Our thoughts are with his family, loved ones and comrades. Nothing, absolutely nothing, justifies violence. Public order will be restored.
— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) May 15, 2024
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The riots continue and the toll rises in New Caledonia. Three people have died since violence broke out on the archipelago, the Elysée announced this Wednesday, May 15, following the defense and security council convened by Emmanuel Macron. The presidential palace also mentioned the case of a “very seriously injured” police officer, whose life-threatening prognosis is in jeopardy according to several media.
Earlier this Wednesday, the High Commissioner of the Republic in New Caledonia announced that two people had been killed. One of them died by gunshot in Nouméa, “not from a shot by the police or the gendarmerie, but from someone who certainly wanted to defend themselves” explained the representative of the French State to the press, without giving further details. No details were given about the other victims.
The violence and riots observed since Monday, May 13 in the Pacific territory have left hundreds injured according to Gérald Darmanin, including “around a hundred gendarmes who were evacuated while their gendarmerie was being attacked with axes and the “We were shooting at them with live ammunition” added the Minister of the Interior.
Macron wants to establish a state of emergency in New Caledonia
Emmanuel Macron spoke with a handful of ministers for more than two hours this Wednesday morning during an urgently convened defense and security council. During the meeting, the head of state declared that “all violence is intolerable and will be the subject of an implacable response to ensure the return of republican order” according to the presidency and the triggering of the state of affairs. The emergency was probably at the heart of the conversations: “The President of the Republic requested that the decree aimed at declaring a state of emergency in New Caledonia be included on the agenda of the Council of Ministers which will meet at 4:30 p.m. ” announced the Élysée in a press release.
The Head of State reiterates his call for calm to the inhabitants of New Caledonia, but also to local elected officials. The latter, whether separatists or loyalists, also called for “calm and reason” in a joint declaration. Both the government and local elected officials are encouraging the resumption of discussions on the constitutional reform, the adoption of which ignited the powder. The Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, thus announced to the National Assembly that he will propose a meeting date for the parties involved in the conflict in New Caledonia “in the coming hours.” The President of the Republic recalled the need to “a resumption of political dialogue and asked the Prime Minister and the Minister of the Interior and Overseas to quickly invite the Caledonian delegations to Paris”, the Elysée press release also indicated.
The High Commissioner of the Republic evokes an “insurrectional” situation
The authorities fear the continuation and above all an amplification of violence. “I let you imagine what will happen if militias start shooting at armed people,” declared Louis Le Franc, the high commissioner of the Republic, who describes the situation as “insurrectional”. Several “exchanges of buckshot between rioters and civil defense groups in Nouméa and Paita” and an “attempted intrusion into the Saint Michel brigade” were recorded.
The tensions and violence affecting the archipelago were revived by the vote of the National Assembly having adopted the constitutional reform which aims to expand the local electoral body. A text highly contested by elected Caledonian separatists. Some of them are calling for the text to be withdrawn, judging that calm cannot return as long as the reform in its current version is in the pipeline.
140 arrests in Nouméa
At least 140 arrests took place in Nouméa and elsewhere in New Caledonia between Monday and Wednesday according to the High Commissioner of the Republic. 1,800 police officers and gendarmes are on site according to the Ministry of the Interior and 500 other members of the police will be deployed in the coming hours.
Schools “will remain closed until further notice” specifies the vice-rectorate of New Caledonia. Tontoura airport remains closed to commercial flights for the time being. “The situation is not serious, it is very serious. If the call for calm is not heard, there will be many deaths in the Nouméa metropolitan area today. We have entered a spiral dangerous, a mortal spiral” regretted Louis Le Franc during a press conference.