New Caledonia: one dead in Nouméa, what we know after another night of riots

A person died by gunshot on the night of Tuesday in Wednesday during the riots at Nouméa. The High Commissioner of the Republic Louis Le Franc regrets a “deadly spiral”.

The riots continued during the night of Tuesday May 14 to Wednesday May 15 in New Caledonia. This time, a person was shot and killed Nouméa announcedé the High Commissioner of the Republic, Louis Le Franc: "Of the three injured admitted to the emergency room, one died, the victim of a gunshot . Not from a shot by the police or the gendarmerie, but from someone who certainly wanted to defend themselves. he explains to the press, without giving any other details. Since Monday, this French territory in the South Pacific has been experiencing its most significant violence since the 1980s.

The High Commissioner of the Republic refers to an “insurrectional” situation

High tensions continue for the second night in a row in New Caledonia after the vote on the contested reform. the National Assembly. The independentists make their opposition heard the constitutional reform which they consider as a "forcible passage" of the State in the words of the general secretary of the Caledonian Union (independentist party), Dominique Fochi, & ;agrave; AFP. Some like Kanak senator Robert Xowie, contacté by Le Monde, see with this intervention for the expansion of the electoral body a new form of French colonialism. For his part, President Emmanuel Macron indicated that that Congress would meet "before the end of June" if no agreement is reached before between the independentists and the loyalists. 

"I'll let you imagine what will happen if militias start à shooting at armed people" continues Louis Le Franc. He éevokes an "insurrectional" in the archipelago. Several “exchanges of buckshot” between the rioters and the civil defense groups continued. Nouméa and Paita" and an "attempted intrusion & the brigade of Saint Michel" have been é censuses.

140 arrests à Nouméa

The High Commissioner of the Republic also reported, this Wednesday, only 140 arrests in the country. Nouméa. Schools "will remain closed until 30:00 new order" specifies the vice-rectorate of New Caledonia. Tontoura airport remains closed for the time being. to commercial flights. "The time is not serious, it is very serious. If the call for calm is not heard, there will be many deaths in the Noum'a area today. We have entered a dangerous spiral, a deadly spiral" regretted Louis Le Franc during a press conference. "If necessary I would call on the military forces, by request for assistance" he said.