French authorities said gatherings in the Pacific territory of New Caledonia would be banned this weekend and a curfew extended, weeks after deadly riots and as the country prepares for high-stakes snap polls starting Sunday, June 30.
The High Commission, which represents the French state in the archipelago, announced a ban on gatherings from Saturday morning until Sunday evening in New Caledonia, which was hit by the deadly unrest last month. “In order to pursue security efforts (…) gatherings will be prohibited from 6:00 am Saturday June 29 to 8:00 pm Sunday June 30,” the High Commission said in a statement. The High Commission also said that the 8:00 pm to 6:00 am curfew in place since the start of the riots had been extended until July 8.
In mid-May, rioting and looting erupted in New Caledonia over an electoral reform plan that Indigenous Kanak people feared would leave them in a permanent minority, putting independence hopes definitively out of reach.
France is on further tenterhooks ahead of a two-round vote which could see the anti-immigrant and Eurosceptic far right take the largest number of seats in the Assemblée Nationale. The first round takes place on Sunday, followed by a second round on July 7.
High Commissioner Louis Le Franc noted that the situation “had improved,” but pointed out that public infrastructure had recently sustained “very serious damage.” In recent days French authorities had insisted that Nouméa, the capital of New Caledonia, which is located nearly 17,000 kilometers from Paris, was back under their control.
But a fresh bout of violence erupted on Monday after seven independence activists accused of orchestrating the deadly riots were sent to mainland France for pre-trial detention. The High Commission denounced “assaults on firefighters carried out by rioters” in recent days. The authority also condemned “in the strongest possible terms” a fire that broke out on Thursday night at the construction site of the La Tontouta first response centre close to the international airport.
More than 1,500 people have been arrested since the unrest began in New Caledonia. The violence has left nine dead and damage estimated at more than €1.5 billion.