Two killed by police in New Caledonia amid ongoing independence tensions

Issued on: 19.09.2024 – 14:29

1 minute

Prosecutor Yves Dupas said police officers on an observation mission in Saint Louis fired two shots after being “directly threatened by a group of armed individuals.”

The men killed were aged 29 and 30. Police had been searching for about a dozen people suspected of being involved in armed robberies and attacks on security forces.

More deaths

The death toll in the area has risen to 13 in the past four months as protests by independence activists led to deadly clashes.

Demonstrations began three months ago in response to the planned electoral reform.

The indigenous Kanaks are convinced that the reform, which would require a constitutional amendment, would weaken their voting rights and make independence more difficult in future referendums.

French President Emmanuel Macron defended the reform, calling it necessary to improve democracy, but suspended it after dissolving parliament and calling new elections, which ended in a stalemate in the lower house in July, with no clear majority.

Ongoing violence

Since then, the unrest has subsided, but the independence movement has announced that it will continue its mobilization until the reform is abandoned.

Clashes continue in Saint Louis, one of the few areas still under a nighttime curfew. Only emergency vehicles are allowed through the remaining roadblocks.

France has sent thousands of soldiers and police to New Caledonia to restore order. Since June, 13 independence activists have been arrested, seven of whom are currently in prison – five of them on the French mainland.

(with AFP, Reuters)