France’s government declared a state of emergency in New Caledonia on Wednesday as it struggled to quell deadly unrest in the semi-autonomous French Pacific territory.
French authorities have undertaken what they called a “massive” mobilization of security forces since violent protests broke out in New Caledonia this week over a proposed amendment to the French Constitution that would change local voting rules in the territory. A vote in the French parliament approving the amendment on Tuesday sparked riots overnight that left four people dead, including a law enforcement officer.
“The priority is to restore order, calm and serenity,” Gabriel Attal, France’s prime minister, told lawmakers on Wednesday.
The French government said more than 1,800 security agents were already in the territory and that 500 reinforcements would arrive in the next 24 hours.
Several businesses and public buildings, including schools, have been looted or burned and more than 130 people arrested, according to the French High Commission. Hundreds of people have been injured.
The state of emergency, which will last 12 days, gives authorities more police powers, allowing them to enact traffic bans, place people under house arrest, ban protests and carry out raids without normal judicial oversight.
President Emmanuel Macron, who called a crisis meeting on Wednesday, expressed “strong emotion” over the deaths and his gratitude to French security forces, his office said in a statement.
“All violence is intolerable and will be subject to a relentless response” to ensure order is restored, the statement said, adding that Macron had welcomed calls for calm from other officials.
In a sign of the seriousness with which authorities were treating the situation, Macron postponed a trip scheduled for Thursday to inaugurate a new nuclear reactor in Normandy.
France annexed New Caledonia, a handful of islands with a population of about 270,000, in 1853. It was one of the few colonies, along with Algeria, that France deliberately populated with white settlers. The indigenous Kanaks now make up about 40 percent of the population, while Europeans make up about a quarter.
The prospect of independence and long-standing social inequality have fueled decades of tensions in the territory. The territory, which has autonomy rare in France, has held three independence referendums since 2018; They have all been rejected.
After armed conflict claimed dozens of lives there in the 1980s (an uprising known as “the Events”), the French government reached an agreement with independence militants that promised change.
The proposed constitutional change, which expands the eligibility of French citizens to vote in provincial elections, struck a new chord. Independence activists in New Caledonia expressed fears that this would weaken their movement and reflected a more aggressive attempt by the French government to assert its will over the territory.
New Caledonia is a crucial foothold for France in the Indo-Pacific region, and French officials have warned that an independent New Caledonia, replete with vast territorial waters and nickel, could quickly fall under Chinese rule.
New Caledonia’s voter lists have been effectively frozen since 2007, with only those who were on the list in 1998 considered eligible to vote in subsequent local elections. The amendment grants voting rights to all French citizens who have lived in the territory for 10 years, effectively increasing the rolls by between 20,000 and 25,000 people, according to Adrian Muckle, a senior lecturer in history at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, who He is an expert on New Caledonia.
Tensions have been building in recent weeks and protests turned violent on Monday night.
In an attempt to ease tension, Macron’s government has promised not to enact the constitutional change (which would require calling a special session of Parliament for a vote) until the end of June. He has also invited pro- and anti-independence groups to hold talks to try to reach a local agreement.
The Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS), the main pro-independence group, condemned in a statement on Wednesday the vote on the constitutional amendment, but also called for calm.
He said the French government’s offer to host talks was an “opportunity” to ensure that “each and every demand, including those of those protesting, can be heard and taken into account.”
The French High Commission in New Caledonia said a curfew imposed on Tuesday in the capital, Noumea, would remain in place, as would a ban on all public gatherings. Noumea international airport has been closed since Tuesday, with all commercial flights cancelled, and local authorities said schools would remain closed until further notice.