SAINTLOUIS: Security forces in New Caledonia killed two men in an overnight operation, a prosecutor said on Thursday, bringing the death toll to 13 after months of unrest in the French Pacific territory. An AFP journalist witnessed clashes between French police and civilians in Saint Louis, the heart of the independence movement south of the capital Noumea. Prosecutor Yves Dupas said security forces on an observation mission fired two shots after being “directly threatened by a group of armed individuals”. The first “hit a man in his 30s, who was positioned as the lone gunman, in the right abdomen,” Dupas said in a statement. “The second shot hit a 29-year-old man in the chest.” The police were looking for around a dozen people suspected of participating in attacks on security forces. “We are not terrorists, we are not in a state of war,” said one mother in a village where the security operation was underway. Riots erupted in New Caledonia in mid-May over a Paris plan for voting reforms that indigenous Kanak people fear would leave them in a permanent minority and dash their hopes for independence. Some protesters barricaded roads and burned or looted cars, businesses and public buildings. France has deployed thousands of soldiers and police to the archipelago, nearly 17,000 kilometers (10,600 miles) from Paris. Hundreds of people have been injured and property damage estimated at around 2.2 billion euros ($2.4 billion) in violence not seen since a near-civil war in the 1980s. The electoral change – which requires an amendment to the French constitution – is effectively in limbo as President Emmanuel Macron dissolved parliament for new elections that left the lower house without a clear majority in July. While unrest in the South Pacific has subsided since mid-July, the road to Saint-Louis in the south of the main island of the Grande Terre archipelago remains closed. For Saint-Louis’ 1,200 residents, the only way in or out is on foot after presenting ID at checkpoints in the north and south. Otherwise, only emergency services and ambulances can pass through the village. Almost all other roadblocks across New Caledonia have been lifted, but the 10pm to 5am curfew remains in place. Since June 19, 13 pro-independence activists have been arrested. Seven are currently in prison, including five in mainland France.
