French police shot and killed two men in New Caledonia on Thursday morning, stoking tensions with pro-independence groups days ahead of a public holiday marking France’s annexation of the Pacific archipelago.
The pro-independence FLNKS decried the deaths as "barbaric and humiliating methods” used by French police resulting in a “summary execution” and called for an independent investigation.
The shootings bring the number of deaths in the Pacific territory to 13 since unrest began in May over French government changes to a voting law that indigenous Kanak people feared would compromise their push for independence.
The men were killed in a confrontation between French gendarmerie and Kanak protesters in the tribal village of Saint Louis, a heartland of the independence movement near the capital Noumea.
Public prosecutor Yves Dupas in a media statement said the police operation using armored vehicles was to arrest suspects for attempted murder of officers and for armed robbery on the Saint Louis road, with “nearly 300 shots noted in recent months.”
“The two deceased persons were the subject of a search warrant, among a total of 13 persons implicated, sought and located in the Saint Louis tribe,” Dupas said, adding they had failed to respond to summonses.
Dupas ordered two investigations, one over the attempted murders of police officers and the second into “death without the intention of causing it relating to the use of weapons by the GIGN gendarmerie [elite police tactical unit] and the consequent death of the two persons sought.”
Union Caledonie secretary general Dominique Fochi said on Thursday the actions of French security forces “only worsen the situation on the ground and push back the prospect of a peaceful solution.”
“The FLNKS denounces the barbaric and humiliating methods used by the police, who did not hesitate to carry out a summary execution of one of the young people in question,” Fochi read from a Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front statement at a press conference in Noumea.
“We demand an immediate de-escalation of military interventions in the south of our country, particularly in Saint Louis, where militarization and pressure continue on the population, which can only lead to more human drama.”
The statement called for an immediate “independent and impartial investigation to shed light on the circumstances of these assassinations in order to establish responsibilities.”
Prosecutor Dupas said police came under fire from up to five people during the operation in Saint Louis and responded with two shots.
“The first shot from the policeman hit a man, aged 30, positioned as a lone sniper, who was wounded in the right flank. The second shot hit a 29-year-old man in the chest,” Dupas said, adding three rifles and ammunition had been seized.
One of the men died at the scene, while the other escaped and later died after arriving at a local hospital.
The deaths are likely to raise tensions ahead of Citizenship Day next Tuesday, which will mark the 171st anniversary of France’s takeover of New Caledonia.
For many Kanaks, the anniversary is a reminder of France's brutal colonization of the archipelago that is located roughly halfway between Australia and Fiji.
Paris has beefed up security ahead of Citizenship Day, with High Commissioner Louis Le Franc saying nearly 7,000 French soldiers, police and gendarmes are now in New Caledonia.
"I have requested reinforcements, which have been granted," he told local station Radio Rythme Bleu last week.
“This has never been seen before, even during the toughest times of the events in 1984 and 1988 – we have never had this,” he said, referring to a Kanak revolt in the 1980s that only ended with the promise of an independence referendum.
Authorities have also imposed a strict curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m between Sept. 21-24, restricted alcohol sales, the transport of fuel and possession of firearms.
Kanaks make up about 40% of New Caledonia’s 270,000 people but are marginalized in their own land – they have lower incomes and poorer health outcomes than Europeans who make up a third of the population and occupy most positions of power in the territory.
New Caledonia voted by modest majorities to remain part of France in referendums held in 2018 and 2020 under a U.N.-mandated decolonization process. Three votes were part of the Noumea Accord to increase Kanaks’ political power following deadly violence in the 1980s.
A contentious final referendum in 2021 was overwhelmingly in favor of continuing with the status quo. However supporters of independence have rejected its legitimacy due to very low turnout – it was boycotted by the independence movement – and because it was held during a serious phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, which restricted campaigning.
Earlier this year, the president of Union Caledonian proposed Sept. 24 as the date by which sovereignty should be declared from France. The party later revised the date to 2025, but the comments underscored how self-determination is firmly in the minds of local independence leaders.
The unrest that erupted in May was the worst outbreak of violence in decades and has left the New Caledonian economy on the brink of collapse, with damages estimated to be at least 1.2 billion euros (U.S. $1.3 billion). Some 35,000 people are out of a job.
BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.