New Caledonia police kill Kanak protester
May 24, 2024
A policeman killed a man in New Caledonia on Friday amid ongoing protests against the French government.
The man, who was 48, was the seventh death since protests broke out almost two weeks ago.
New Caledonia prosecutor Yves Dupas said the incident occurred when the officer was attacked by about 15 people. He is now in custody and an investigation is underway.
Macron calls for calm
The protests, which shut down parts of the Pacific island, have been led by the Indigenous Kanak people in response to a proposed voting change that they say would dilute their voice in whether or not the island remains a part of France.
French President Emmanuel Macron flew to New Caledonia on Thursday to help diffuse the political crisis and spoke to media on Friday before departing.
"What I ask for, immediately, is for roadblocks and flash points to be lifted," told reporters on Friday.
"Once we've seen that happen, the next step is that we will lift the state of emergency," he added.
Police dismantled about 100 roadblocks around the island on Friday.
In Paris, French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal attended a memorial for two gendarmes who were killed earlier in the unrest.
"The situation in New Caledonia today remains extremely fragile, and anything could cause it to falter," he said.
Why are people protesting in New Caledonia?
France colonized New Caledonia in 1853 and made it an overseas territory in 1946.
New Caledonia has a deep rift between the Indigenous Kanak population, which has a poverty rate of 32.5%, and the non-Kanak, mostly white population, which has a poverty rate of 9%.
Kanak leaders have pushed for independence, but three referendums held between 2018 and 2021 have failed. The most recent vote had been boycotted by much of the Kanak population.
The new voting rules would add about 25,000 people to the electoral roll, including people who have been residents of the archipelago for at least 10 years.
Pro-independence leaders fear that this would benefit pro-France politicians. Supporters of the reform say it would give a voice to people with roots on the island who can't currently vote for local representatives.
Christian Tein, of the Field Action Coordination Cell (CCAT), which has organized the protests, has vowed to keep pushing for the electoral changes to be scrapped and for New Caledonia to become independent.
"We remain mobilized," he said in comments broadcast on social media. "We maintain the resistance in our neighborhoods in a structured, organized way."
zc/wd (AFP, AP, Reuters)