From this Monday, June 17, gradual return to normal life in New Caledonia, with lighter measures: adjustment of the curfew which will start at 8 p.m. instead of 6 p.m., partial reopening of Nouméa – La Tontouta international airport … Can we speak of a lull after a month of riots which caused the death of nine people, hundreds of injuries and damage amounting to at least 1.5 billion euros?
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We are still very far from a return to normal. Noumea International Airport reopened this Monday morning after more than a month of closure, but a few hours later, new roadblocks were installed on RT 1, the strategic axis which connects Nouméa to the airport, and the gendarmes had to intervene, reports Charlotte Mannevy, our correspondent in Noumea. As a result of these new tensions, passengers had to turn around to be transported by plane from the airfield located in town but which is not able to accommodate large aircraft. “The air bridge between Magenta and La Tontouta airports is reactivated due to road conditions this Monday, June 17 as well as for Tuesday, June 18 in the morning,” can we read this Monday morning on the airport website.
And even if the curfew was relaxed to 8 p.m. instead of 6 p.m., from this Monday evening, clashes still took place every night with the police, including in the heart of the capital. The south of Grande Terre is almost inaccessible. After a month without school, the start of the school year came slowly. This morning, several establishments remained closed because their security was not guaranteed.
Reopening of some schools
In the South province, certain schools have been able to reopen. Sophie is a teacher. For several weeks, she organized home schooling in her Magenta neighborhood. “ At the very beginning, I didn’t feel like going for the dams and that’s why the idea of homeschooling came to me, she tells the microphone of Sylvie Koffifrom the company department. I had between 20 and 30 students to manage, from kindergarten to 6th grade, whom I took into my home. I was also accompanied by volunteer mothers. Other teachers in the neighborhood joined me on this initiative and the neighborhood nursery was kind enough to open its doors. » Depending on the security situation in the neighborhood, schools reopen or not. Some were burned, continues the teacher, “we must therefore find other possibilities to bring the children to other schools or distribute them. And it’s true that it complicated the recovery. »
Read alsoNew Caledonia: “gradual return to normal life” with reopening of the airport