The death toll rises to seven in the crisis in New Caledonia due to the controversial census reform proposal

May 24. () –

The security forces of New Caledonia shot dead a man this Friday in the context of the riots that have occurred for almost two weeks, bringing the number of deaths in these incidents to seven, including two gendarmes, as reported. confirmed by French authorities.

The local Prosecutor’s Office has indicated that the event took place around 3:15 p.m. (local time), when two agents were approached by “a group of about 15 individuals” while they were traveling in a vehicle through the town of Dumbéa.

“In circumstances yet to be determined, the official used his service weapon to fire a shot to get out of the altercation,” he stated, before stating that “the first findings reveal signs of blows on the officials’ faces.”

The Prosecutor’s Office has ordered the opening of an investigation into alleged voluntary homicide at the hands of an official and has stated that the investigations will be carried out with all the objectivity and impartiality necessary for the manifestation of the truth,” according to the newspaper ‘Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes’.

The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, stated on Thursday from New Caledonia that the territory is suffering “an absolutely unprecedented insurrectional movement” as a result of the proposed constitutional reform that would allow French citizens to vote in local elections, suspended by the president himself. as part of his visit to the site to address the crisis. Thus, he opposed approving the reform of the electoral roll “in the current context” and set a deadline of several weeks to “allow appeasement” in New Caledonia.

The conflict broke out on May 13 after the debate in the French Parliament on an electoral reform that grants the vote to French citizens who have been residing in the territory for at least ten years. The Kanaks, and especially the independence alliance of the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS), have denounced the proposal as a blow to their aspirations at a particularly critical moment in relations with France, after the alliance boycotted the last independence referendum of 2021, which ended in victory for the unionists.