New Caledonia: Police kill man, seventh death in unrest in French Pacific territory (2024)

A policeman in riot-hit New Caledonia killed a 48-year-old man on Friday, May 24, after being attacked by demonstrators in the aftermath of President Emmanuel Macron's visit to the French Pacific territory, prosecutors said. The latest fatality was a blow to hopes for calm after Macron's visit which some officials had seen as heralding an end to more than a week of violence that has now killed seven people.

The killing of a 48-year-old man by police on Friday took the death toll from the unrest to seven, including two gendarmes. This was the first time that a civilian had been killed by a member of law enforcement since riots broke out on May 13.

A police officer and his colleague were "physically attacked by a group of around 15 individuals" in Dumbéa just outside the capital Nouméa, forcing him to draw his weapon, said prosecutor Yves Dupas. The total death toll from over a week of riots now stands at seven.

"In circ*mstances that have yet to be determined, the officer is said to have fired a shot from his service weapon to extricate himself from the physical altercation," Dupas said in a statement. "Initial findings show traces of blows to the officers' faces," the statement said.

The officer who fired the shots was taken into custody, the prosecutor said, adding that a probe into voluntary manslaughter by a person in authority was launched. Such legal moves are usually automatic in France when a policeman kills an individual. The investigation will be conducted "with all the objectivity and impartiality necessary to establish the truth," the prosecutor added.

The man was killed after Macron flew to the Pacific archipelago, located some 17,000 kilometers from mainland France, in an urgent bid to defuse a political crisis after more than a week of riots over voting reform.

'Not the Wild West'

France has enforced a state of emergency, flying hundreds of police and military reinforcements to restore order in the territory which lies between Australia and Fiji. The deadliest violence in four decades erupted over a French voting reform plan that indigenous Kanak people say will dilute their voice.

"Violence should never be allowed to take root," Macron said during a televised interview with local journalists at the end of his lightning visit. "What I want is a message of order and return to calm as this is not the Wild West," he said. "In France, it's not for everyone to defend themselves. There is a Republican order assured by the security forces," he said. "A path must be opened for the calming of tensions and this will allow us to build what happens next." He said that all roadblocks should be "immediately" removed.

New Caledonia has been ruled from Paris since the 1800s, but many Indigenous Kanaks still resent France's power over their islands and want fuller autonomy or independence. France had planned to give voting rights to thousands of non-indigenous long-term residents, a move Kanaks say would dilute the influence of their votes.

Airport closed until Tuesday

Macron conceded more talks were needed on the voting changes, and pledged they would "not be forced through" in the current context. "We will allow some weeks to allow a calming of tensions and resumption of dialogue to find a broad accord" among all parties, he added, saying he would review the situation again within a month. However, uncertainty prevailed Friday about whether Macron's intervention would help quell unrest.

Separatists have thrown up barricades that have cut off whole neighborhoods and the main route to the international airport, which remains shuttered. The international airport will remain closed to commercial flights until at least 9 am local time on Tuesday, Charles Roger, director of New Caledonia's Chamber of Commerce and Industry which operates La Tontouta International Airport, told Agence France-Presse. That would extend the shutdown to nearly two weeks in total, after flights were halted on May 15.

Since Tuesday, New Zealand and Australia have been carrying out special evacuation flights to bring home hundreds of tourists stranded in New Caledonia. The Australian evacuation flights were set to continue on Friday, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on X.