New Caledonia in 'deadly spiral' as Paris orders state of emergency
The French government on Wednesday announced the establishment of a state of emergency in the Pacific Ocean territory of New Caledonia, where four people, including a gendarme, have died and many others were injured after two nights of rioting. The troubles were prompted by anger at new legislation to change the electoral register which will have the effect of diminishing the political representation of the archipelago’s indigenous Kanak people. “We’ve entered a deadly spiral," said France's high commissioner for the territory, Louis Le Franc. Gilles Caprais reports from the New Caledonian capital Nouméa, after the second night of violence.
Gilles Caprais
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InIn the Vallée-du-Tir neighbourhood of Nouméa, capital of New Caledonia, the sun had been up for three hours but the night was not yet over. Stones and tear gas grenades were still flying through the air. Sitting on an upturned tin of paint at the head of the main road, an elderly woman was warning the few cars heading past that they should turn back: “It’s too dangerous down there, shouldn’t go there, everything’s smashed.”
