France has declared an emergency in New Caledonia following extensive riots, resulting in four fatalities. The French government has deployed an additional 500 police officers to the island, supplementing the existing force 1,800.
According to New Caledonia’s highest French official, the armed forces have secured the island’s airports and port. During a third consecutive night of unrest, rioters set vehicles and businesses ablaze and looted stores.
The disturbances involved approximately 5,000 rioters across three municipalities, including 3,000 to 4,000 in the capital, Noumea. France’s High Commissioner, Louis Le Franc, disclosed these figures during a televised press briefing.
The riots have led to the arrest of 200 individuals, with 64 officers reported injured. Le Franc described the road barricades erected by protesters as creating severe disruptions to medical and food supplies for residents.
The state of emergency, effective from 5 a.m. local time on Thursday (1800 GMT Wednesday), grants authorities enhanced powers, including prohibiting gatherings and restricting movement around the island.
Noumea resident Yoan Fleurot described the chaos in a Zoom interview with Reuters, noting instances where storeowners allowed their shops to be looted to avoid further destruction. Fleurot, who has fortified his home with a 16-caliber gun and video surveillance, ventures out only in daylight due to safety concerns.
Le Franc detailed the extensive blockades on main and secondary roads in Noumea, some rigged with gas bottles and ignition systems as makeshift booby traps.
He urged the Field Action Coordination Cell (CCAT), responsible for organizing the protests, to cease their “murderous, deadly actions,” differentiating them from the main pro-independence party, FLNKS, which has denounced the violence.
The conflict was ignited by a recent legislative change in Paris, which permits French residents living in New Caledonia to vote in provincial elections for ten years—a policy feared to undermine the indigenous Kanak vote.
This crisis has seen the deaths of three young Kanaks and a 24-year-old police official, escalating tensions in the region.
Authorities have imposed a 12-day emergency and banned the video app TikTok to control the situation. The ongoing electoral reform controversy is critical in the longstanding debate over France’s influence in the mineral-rich Pacific island, approximately 1,500 km east of Australia.
