Two Dead, Hundreds Injured As Riots Sweep New Caledonia

Noumea, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th May, 2024) France on Wednesday declared a state of emergency in its overseas territory of New Caledonia after a second night of rioting in which two people were killed and hundred injured, as anger over constitutional reforms from Paris boiled over.

President Emmanuel Macron warned that any further violence would be met with an "unyielding" response and called for a resumption of political dialogue to end the unrest which had now claimed three lives, the Elysee said in a statement.

Shops were looted and public buildings torched during last night's violence, the authorities there said.

What began as pro-independence demonstrations has spiralled into three days of the worst violence on the French Pacific archipelago since the 1980s.

Despite heavily armed security forces fanning out across the capital Noumea, and the ordering of a nighttime curfew, rioting continued overnight virtually unabated.

Hundreds of people including "around 100" police and gendarmes have been injured in the unrest, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said in Paris.

One person had been shot dead overnight but authorities were yet to establish what had led to the incident, Darmanin said, adding that dozens of homes and businesses had been torched.

The office of the High Commissioner, France's top representative in New Caledonia, later Wednesday reported a second death in the riots, without giving any details of the circumstances.

A source familiar with the case told AFP that one gendarme was fighting for his life after being severely wounded by gunshot in Plum, on the southwest coast of New Caledonia.

President Emmanual Macron cancelled a planned domestic trip and moved Wednesday's regular cabinet meeting to hold a crisis meeting with key ministers on New Caledonia, his office said.

In Noumea and the commune of Paita there were reports of several exchanges of fire between civil defence groups and rioters.

Streets in the capital were pocked with the shells of burned-out cars and buildings, including a sports store and a large concrete climbing wall.

"Numerous arsons and pillaging of shops, infrastructure and public buildings -- including Primary and secondary schools -- were carried out," said the High Commission.