Four dead in New Caledonia riots, France declares state of emergency

SYDNEY/PARIS: France declared a state of emergency on the Pacific island of New Caledonia on Wednesday after three young indigenous Kanak and a police official were killed in riots over electoral reform.

The state of emergency will give authorities additional powers to ban gatherings and forbid people from moving around the French-ruled island.

Police reinforcements have been sent - and more are on the way - after rioters torched vehicles and businesses and looted stores. Schools have been shut and there is already a curfew in the capital.

Rioting broke out over a new bill, adopted by lawmakers in Paris on Tuesday, that will allow French residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years to vote in provincial elections - a move some local leaders fear will dilute the Kanak vote.

“Since the start of the week, New Caledonia has been hit by violence of a rare intensity,” said Prime Minister Gabriel Attal. “No violence will be tolerated,” he said, adding that the state of emergency “will allow us to roll out massive means to restore order.”

A spokeswoman said Attal had presented to the government a decree to declare the state of emergency and had called on all parties to restart political dialogue. The state of emergency will last for 12 days, she added.

Earlier in the day, a spokesman for New Caledonia’s President Louis Mapou said that three young indigenous Kanak had died in the riots. The French government later announced that a 24-year-old police official had died from a gunshot wound.

“He took off his helmet (to speak to residents) and he was shot right in the head,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.

“Residents are terrorised, armed and organising themselves to make the rounds tonight and protect their homes,” said Lilou Garrido Navarro Kherachi, 19, who drove around protester blockades on Wednesday morning in the capital Noumea.

She said she heard gunfire and saw burning cars and buildings, including a ruined veterinary clinic where neighbours had evacuated the animals before the fire spread.

Police were outnumbered by protesters, she told Reuters.

Electoral reform is the latest flashpoint in a decades-long tussle over France’s role in the mineral-rich island, which lies in the southwest Pacific, some 1,500 km (930 miles) east of Australia.

France annexed the island in 1853 and gave the colony the status of overseas territory in 1946. It has long been rocked by pro-independence movements.

New Caledonia is the world’s No. 3 nickel miner and residents have been hit by a crisis in the sector, with one in five living under the poverty threshold.