{"id":52641,"date":"2024-05-17T07:48:23","date_gmt":"2024-05-17T07:48:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/17\/new-caledonia-france-bolsters-security-forces-on-island-after-deadly-rioting-over-paris-voting-reforms\/"},"modified":"2024-05-17T07:48:23","modified_gmt":"2024-05-17T07:48:23","slug":"new-caledonia-france-bolsters-security-forces-on-island-after-deadly-rioting-over-paris-voting-reforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/17\/new-caledonia-france-bolsters-security-forces-on-island-after-deadly-rioting-over-paris-voting-reforms\/","title":{"rendered":"New Caledonia: France bolsters security forces on island after deadly rioting over Paris voting reforms"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Police reinforcements have been arriving in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia as part of a major security crackdown following days of deadly rioting.<\/p>\n

An extra 1,000 personnel have been sent to the archipelago in addition to the 1,700 already deployed, after France <\/a><\/strong>imposed a state of emergency to tackle the unrest, which included a curfew and a ban on TikTok.<\/p>\n

Five people, including two police officers, have been killed in the violence which erupted following protests over voting reforms being pushed through by French President Emmanuel Macron’s government.<\/p>\n

At least 60 members of the security forces were injured and 214 people arrested during clashes, that also saw arson and looting.<\/p>\n

While the situation is now calmer, confrontations have continued in the capital Noumea, according to France’s high commissioner Louis Le Franc.<\/p>\n

He added: “Our calls for calm, peace and reconciliation are beginning to be heard… It is important that those who are at the origin of the clashes, of the blockages, hear this.”<\/p>\n

Speaking after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said: “Everything is being done to restore order and calm that Caledonians deserve.”<\/p>\n

Trouble has flared over a proposed new law that will let French residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years vote in provincial elections.<\/p>\n

Some local leaders fear the move will dilute the indigenous Kanak vote.<\/p>\n

It is the latest flashpoint in long-standing tensions over French rule of the mineral-producing Pacific island some 930 miles (1,500 km) east of Australia.<\/p>\n

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The Pacific Conference of Churches has joined regional inter-governmental groups in calling for France to withdraw the constitutional bill, and pressed for the involvement of the United Nations.<\/p>\n

Pacific Elders Voice, a group of former Pacific leaders, has said decisions are being made in Paris without meaningful consultation and France should listen to “indigenous Kanak voices and the Pacific-wide support for self-determination”.<\/p>\n

Rock Haocas, a leader of a Kanak workers union in Paris, said: “We wish to see the French government make a strong political statement rather than send troops.<\/p>\n

“Starting a conversation would be a strong political statement.”<\/p>\n

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The last time France imposed emergency powers on one of its overseas territories was in 1985, also in New Caledonia.<\/p>\n

The island is home to about 270,000 people and 10 time zones ahead of Paris.<\/p>\n

It became French in 1853 under Emperor Napoleon III, Napoleon’s nephew.<\/p>\n

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Following the Second World War it became an overseas territory, with French citizenship granted to all Kanaks in 1957.<\/p>\n

A peace deal between rival groups was reached in 1988.<\/p>\n

A decade later, France promised to grant New Caledonia greater devolution and hold up to three successive referendums on its future.<\/p>\n

Read more from Sky News:<\/strong>
French police shoot dead armed suspect who ‘planned synagogue attack’<\/a><\/strong>
Ukraine’s second city hit by drones during country’s longest air raid alert<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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The referendums were organised between 2018 to 2021 and a majority of voters backed the island remaining part of France.<\/p>\n

The pro-independence Kanak people rejected the results of the last vote, which they boycotted because it was held at the height of the COVID pandemic.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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Police reinforcements have been arriving in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia as part of a major security crackdown following days of deadly rioting. An extra 1,000 personnel have been sent to the archipelago in addition to the 1,700 already deployed, after France imposed a state of emergency to tackle the unrest, which included […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52642,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/24\/05\/768x432\/skynews-marseille-france-new_6556644.jpg?20240517075629","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4330,50244,11100,2328,9403,136,4987,7362,18814,2441,2866],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52641"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52641"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52643,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52641\/revisions\/52643"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}