PARIS (Dispatches) – Mass protests erupted in New Caledonia this week after France’s parliament voted to allow French residents who have lived in the Pacific Islands territory for 10 years or more to vote in provincial elections.
The French government has argued that these reforms uphold democracy in the archipelago. But local people – particularly those from the Indigenous Kanak community, who make up 40 percent of the islands’ population – fear this will undermine their efforts to win independence from France.
France deployed troops to New Caledonia’s ports and international airport, banned TikTok as the government imposed a state of emergency on May 16.
Anger among the Indigenous Kanak people has been simmering for weeks over plans to amend the French constitution, diluting a 1998 accord that limited voting rights.
Hundreds of heavily armed French marines and police on Saturday patrolled the capital, Noumea, where streets were filled with debris following several nights of looting, arson and armed clashes in which six people have died.
The death toll has risen to six and hundreds more have been injured as protests and riots continue in the French Pacific territory.
Gendarmerie Chief General Nicolas Mattheos said on Saturday that one person was killed and two more injured in an exchange of gunfire in the archipelago’s northern Kaala-Gomen area.
The latest casualties were also male, an informed source told the media.
Since Monday, two gendarmes have been killed, one shot in the head and a second shot in friendly fire, as well as three others -- all Indigenous Kanaks -- a 17-year-old and two men aged 20 and 36.
At least 60 members of the security forces have been injured in the latest unrest, prompting Paris to send reinforcements.
French officials have accused a pro-independence group known as CCAT of being behind the protests. Ten activists accused of organizing the violence have been placed under house arrest, according to authorities.
New Caledonia has been French territory since colonization in the late 1800s. Centuries on, politics remains dominated by debate about whether the islands should be part of France, autonomous or independent – with opinions split roughly along ethnic lines.
The latest unrest has been blamed on economic malaise, social tensions and -- above all -- a political fight between mostly indigenous pro-independence activists and Paris authorities.
French President Emmanuel Macron canceled a video conference with local political leaders for lack of willing participants.
In Noumea, hundreds of people lined up outside shops, hoping to secure desperately needed food and supplies.
Tourism is a main source of income for New Caledonia. However, tourists and regular travelers have been stranded inside or outside the archipelago after Noumea’s international airport was temporarily closed due to unrest.