According to reports in the French press, one person was killed by a gendarmerie bullet in an incident that occurred in the Le-Mont-Dore region of New Caledonia. The incident occurred as the protests launched by independence supporters against the French government intensified.
According to eyewitnesses, while the gendarmerie neutralized the independence supporters who was shooting at them, one person lost his life in the ensuing conflict. With this incident, the violence of the protests that started in May increased and the number of people who lost their lives rose to 10.
Pro-independence groups in New Caledonia have mobilized to oppose the French government’s proposed constitutional changes that could have an impact on the region’s elections. The protests prompted French President Emmanuel Macron to announce that he would suspend his constitutional reform drive ahead of the election.
The French government sent additional police and gendarmerie units to the region and declared a state of emergency after the protests escalated. Tensions between the indigenous Kanak people of New Caledonia and the established French voters were further increased by the constitutional reform initiative.
Both Kanak leader Christian Thein and other independence activists were sent to France and arrested, leading to violence erupting on the island, with buildings and vehicles being set on fire.
The vote in the French parliament will determine whether to approve a constitutional reform that would increase the number of settler French voters and make the Kanaks a minority.
