On Friday France's minister of the interior Gérald Darmanin announced that security forces had just restored order in those last remaining pockets of the city of Nouméa that were “not under control” following the recent unrest that left seven people dead across New Caledonia and led to a state of emergency.
Meanwhile the judicial crackdown in the French Pacific territory has begun against those accused of being involved in the disturbances, which broke out following a move by Paris to allow recent settlers on the archipelago the right to vote in local elections. This will have the effect of diminishing the political representation of the indigenous Kanak people.
Twenty-one-year-old 'Matthias' – not his real name - had no previous criminal record, while 24-year-old 'Joseph' – also a pseudonym - was convicted in 2022 for a driving offence. Both men, Kanak and pro-independence, and residents of the former tollbooth squat north of Nouméa, appeared on Wednesday May 29th before the criminal court in Nouméa accused of committing violence not resulting in serious harm and “damaging” a gendarmerie vehicle.
Two days earlier they had been at one of the many barricades set up in their area since May 13th, when the protests against the new electoral roll plans turned into an insurrection, resulting not just in the seven fatal shootings but countless fires in businesses and homes too.
At around 3pm that day the gendarmes, equipped with armoured vehicles, had intervened to dismantle the rolling barricade, which was intended to disrupt traffic without stopping it. A Caledonian twist on Sisyphus’s boulder, the gendarme operation seemed doomed to eternal repetition: the barricades were sometimes put back up just minutes after they were taken down. On this occasion the rioters pelted the gendarmes with stones before abandoning the barricade.
At the hearing Matthias was accused of having hurled a bottle which smashed on the road. Joseph was said to have thrown a stone – he says it hit the wheel of an armoured vehicle, and no one contradicted that claim. When tested after his arrest he was found to have had 0.58 grams of alcohol per litre of blood – the legal limit for driving in France is 0.5 g/l of blood - and he explained at the time that he had wanted to “have some fun with the gendarmes”. In court, though, he said he had been called into action.
Enlargement : Illustration 1
“We received instructions from CCAT members,” says Matthias, referring to the French acronym for the 'Coordination Group for Action in the Field', an organisation close to the pro-independence alliance the Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS), and which has been described as “mafia-like” by Gérald Darmanin. “They come through the neighbourhood to tell us what to do,” explained the defendants. On this occasion they were told to set up the barricade, offer some resistance and “slow down the gendarmes”.
“Do you realise what you were taking part in? Clearing the barricades is in everyone’s interest, not just one side in relation to another. Why did you agree to do it?” asked the presiding judge, Philippe Guislain. “They told us that with all the people who keep coming, there'll be no jobs left for the locals,” replied Joseph, echoing fears of the return of the “settler colony” that is expressed by pro-independence parties.
“Do you think that in an independent New Caledonia, no one else would come to the country? You have a right to fight for an independent New Caledonia, but is targeting the police the best way to do it?” replied the court president, who then also turned to the other defendant. “It wasn’t very smart to throw that bottle. It won’t get you more work.”
A different profile of defendant
Matthias, a painter and plasterer currently seeking work, lives with his mother. He completed his training with the military service regiment or RSMA, a service unique to France's overseas territories, at the beginning of May. “You were being supervised by French army soldiers until the start of May, and on the 27th, you find yourself committing violence against the army...” The court president was both perplexed and sarcastic. “You see, there are benefits, after all. It’s not just people coming to take your jobs...” he told the defendant.
As for Joseph, he is a carpenter with a job at a company in Nouméa. With his monthly salary of 140,000 Pacific francs (976 pounds or 1,173 euros), he supports his wife and their 17-month-old child in a country where the cost of living is 31% higher than in mainland France. He gives 5,000 francs (35 pounds or 43 euros) a month to his parents, with whom they live, to pay the water bill, one of the main expenses for residents of squats who rely heavily on their vegetable plots for food. “That’s a small contribution towards expenses...” the president remarked with a slight smile. Joseph did not respond. He grudgingly expressed his “regret” for his actions.
Enlargement : Illustration 2
Matthias and Joseph “don’t really fit the profile of those who usually appear in court, and that raises questions,” noted the public prosecutor, Isabelle Fuhrer. Judges in the Nouméa criminal court often see young people with long criminal records. But in these cases “we're not dealing with two young people lost and abandoned by Caledonian society”, she said.
The most “saddening” aspect, continued the prosecutor, was that the two defendants had “little perspective” as to the purpose of their actions. She saw them as “small pawns,” who were “caught up in something beyond them,” though this did not in any way “diminish their guilt.” She said she was “not here to judge” and “did not engage in politics.” But she said: “If the aim is to have an independent country built on ruins, it’s a country that will go nowhere”.
I urge you not to make an example of them.
For Isabelle Fuhrer, there was no question of the two defendants “taking the fall for those who ravaged Nouméa”. And nor was there any question, either, of asking the court to impose just a simple suspended sentence. Instead, she requested a six-month prison sentence, fully suspended with probation, and a ban on staying in the Nouméa metropolitan area, which would mean separation from their family – and prevent Joseph from going to work.
These demands were “excessive,” warned defence lawyer Anne-Lise Lebreton, for whom even greater disappointments were in store. “No gendarme was injured,” she reminded the court. Moreover, the “damage” caused to the armoured vehicle was not detailed at any point in the hearing. Most importantly “the court was again dealing with people who obeyed orders,” she said. “They have no independent thought,” the lawyer continued. “We would like to see the real culprits,” whom she noted that the authorities, up to the very highest levels of the state, had promised to bring to justice. Anne-Lise Lebreton rejected the idea that her clients should “pay for everyone”.
“I urge you not to make an example of them. Their personality, the facts: that’s how you make the punishment fit the individual, not by relying on context,” she pleaded, promising that her two clients had “understood” and would not return to the barricades. But the court did not accept this argument.
“The facts are extremely serious,” said presiding judge Philippe Guislain. “....[T]he circumstances of the offence must be taken into account.” Addressing the defendants he continued: “We take the view that you participated in everything the group did.” The law needed to be “firmly applied”, the judge added.
Defence lawyer Anne-Lise Lebreton shook her head as the sentence - which she will appeal against - was delivered: six months in prison with an order for them to start their sentence now. The faces of the convicted men crumbled. The court president drove the point home. “There will always be forces of law and order, whether in a French Republic or a Kanaky republic [editor's note, New Caledonia]. And attacking the forces of law and order is extremely serious,” he said.
Nouméa prison's “unfit” cells
Presiding judge Philippe Guislain ended the hearing on a surreal note by inviting the convicted men to consider an appeal against detention conditions at Camp-Est prison. Universally deemed to be “unfit”, the appalling condition of the cells at Nouméa prison have led to a series of early releases and compensation payments. This prompted the state to announce in February the creation of a new prison on the Ducos peninsula.
With nearly 600 inmates for 400 places, Camp-Est prison had a 150% occupancy rate as of February. But things have got much worse since. Firstly, the riots of May 13th and 14th caused damage that rendered around fifty beds unusable. Secondly, by the evening of Wednesday May 29th, 49 prison sentences arising from the unrest had already been handed down. Yet the judicial process is only just beginning: 91 court summonses have been issued, according to the public prosecutor's office.
To free up space, the legal authorities have begun transferring prisoners: 30 have been sent to the detention centre in Koné, in northern New Caledonia. “Transfers to mainland France and French Polynesia are also planned,” announced public prosecutor Yves Dupas, who advocates a “firm” crackdown but also a certain sense of “proportionality”.
“Obviously, one has to consider the severity of the offence using alternatives - such as unpaid work - to imprisonment for the most minor offences, as provided for under the criminal law,” he said. Clearly the criminal court in Nouméa took the view that the bottle-throwing incident did not fit into this category of minor offences.
The issue of the severity of sentences looks set to fuel division between Caledonian political leaders. Loyalist elected officials, particularly the radicals led by Sonia Backès, president of the Southern Province and a former junior minister for citizenship in the French government under President Emmanuel Macron, describe the CCAT's actions as “terrorist” in nature and want to see a correspondingly firm judicial response.
Supporters of independence, while not denying the need for some form of response from the courts, are calling for an approach that they hope will “preserve the future” as they put it. They warn the state against disproportionate repression which could further inflame the situation ignited by its highest representative, following the unrest and the subsequent visit by President Macron, which some in New Caledonia say merely made matters worse.
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- The original French version of this article can be found here.
English version and additional reporting by Michael Streeter