The fifth accident in a nearly a year of violent unrest ravaging the island whose indigenous community has long sought freedom was reported by European security forces on Saturday in military clashes in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia.
A safety official who spoke on condition of anonymity claimed that the person was killed in an exchange of fire at one of the island’s numerous unexpected walls because they were not authorized to discuss the incident in public.
Two other people were severely injured in the fight, the official said, confirming European media reviews. The gunfight broke out at Kaala-Gomen, a siege in the northwest of the main island, according to the official.
According to Le Monde and another French media outlets, the victim was a gentleman and his brother was one of the injured.
Following demonstrations over election reforms that pro-independence supporters have long pushed to break free from France, violence erupted this week on Monday.
Armed clashes, looting, burning and another havoc have turned parts of the money, Noumea, into no- get zones and left a large trail of destruction. Bridges dotted with burnt monoliths of burned-out cars, places where businesses and shops are located, and structures that have been destroyed by fires have become ignoble ruins.
Residents of the Magenta region of Noumea have set up a temporary barricade with the intention of keeping an eye on their neighborhood in a calm manner on May 16, 2024, amid protests relating to a discussion over a democratic bill aimed at expanding the voter for the upcoming elections in the French territory of New Caledonia. ( Photo by Theo Rouby / AFP ) ( Photo by THEO ROUBY/AFP via Getty Images )
Residents of the Paris-area claim that crime continues to make venturing out dangerous despite the government’s declaration of an emergency and lots of reinforcements for protection services that lost power of some neighborhoods. Demonstrators have blockaded streets with walls, as have people banding together to protect their houses, neighborhoods and lives.
Noumea’s president, Sonia Lagarde, said Saturday that while over murder has eased significantly, with a 6 p. m. to 6 a. m punishment in consequence,” we are far from a profit to normal”.
” The injury is incredible”, she said, speaking to radio BFM- Television. ” It´s a spectacle of desolation”.
Despite all the pleas for calm, she said, describing Noumea as” under siege,” and the situation is not” changing; quite the contrary.”
Authorities are given more authority to deal with harsh protesters, including the possibility of house arrest for those who are perceived as a threat to the public order, and expanded authority to conduct searches, capture weapons, and impose restrictions on movement, with potential jail time for violators. The next time France imposed these restrictions on one of its international countries was in 1985, which included New Caledonia, according to the Interior Ministry.
The French President’s constitutional revision of the French Constitution, known as the” Kanaks,” is causing a wave of protest in Toulouse against the election of more local voters in the name of local candidates. ( Photo by Alain Pitton/NurPhoto via Getty Images )
Aboriginal Kanaks seeking independence and successors of settlers who want to stay in France have for decades sat at odds with one another in the island.
As the European government in Paris debated changing New Caledonian voting lists, unrest broke out. A bill that, among other things, will help residents of New Caledonia for ten years to put vote in municipal elections was approved by the National Assembly on Wednesday.
Opponents claim that the measure did benefit pro-France New Caledonian politicians and more marginalize Kanak people. They previously faced widespread discrimination and stringent segregation policies. The 270, 000-kilometer-long archipel south of Australia is ten times more populous than Paris.
