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On Wednesday, the entire Magenta district of Noumea was cordoned off.
photo: Radio Regulations Board
New Caledonian security forces have arrested eight suspects for organizing the independence riots that broke out on May 13.
The eight include the leaders of the so-called “field action coordination group” (CCAT), which was set up by the Caledonian Union (UC), one of the more radical parties in the National Liberation Front of Kanak Socialism (FLNKS) platform.
The large-scale dawn operation was reportedly part of a preliminary judicial investigation by France’s anti-terrorism department and was mainly carried out by the gendarmerie at the CCAT headquarters in the Magenta district in the center of Noumea and in Mont-Dore in the suburbs.
The entire area has been cordoned off during the operation.
The investigation was launched on May 17, prosecutor Yves Dupas said in a press release.
“These include possible charges of conspiracy to prepare for the commission of a crime; organized arson to destroy goods and property; conspiracy to incite crime and murder or attempted murder of a person in a public office; and participation in a gang formed to prepare for the commission of an act of violence against persons and property.”
Dupas said because some of the charges involve organized crime, those arrested could be detained for up to 96 hours.
CCAT leader Christian Téin was one of the eight leaders arrested.
CCAT leader Christian Tein was among the eight people arrested on Wednesday.
photo: CNC No. 1
Dupas said those arrested had been informed of their basic rights, including the right to counsel, the right to a medical examination and the right to remain silent during subsequent interrogations.
“Investigators and prosecutors intend to conduct this phase of the investigation with all the necessary objectivity and impartiality, with the fundamental goal of establishing the truth,” Dupas said.
Dupas noted that other similar actions were carried out on Wednesday, including at the headquarters of the USTKE union, one of the main components of CCAT.
The arrests come five weeks after pro-independence protests against proposed changes to voter eligibility rules for local elections. Turned into violence, looting and arson.
It is currently estimated that more than 600 businesses and around 200 private homes were destroyed, more than 7,000 employees lost their jobs, and total economic losses exceeded €1 billion.
The unrest is believed to be the worst since the quasi-civil war that broke out in New Caledonia in the second half of the 1980s.
Immediate response
The pro-independence Caledonian United Party quickly reacted to the arrests on Wednesday, calling on “all relay teams of the Caledonian Committee against Torture and our young people to remain calm and not react to provocations, both locally and on social networks.”
The University of California said in a press release that it “condemns” the “abusive arrest” of CCAT leaders.
The Unite union said: “The French government persists in its tactics of intimidation. These arrests were foreseeable,” and demanded “immediate explanations” from the French government.
Daniel Goa, rector of the University of Coimbra, also called for the removal of the French representative to New Caledonia, High Commissioner Louis Le Franc.
Sonia Buckeyes, leader of the pro-French royalist party and governor of New Caledonia’s South Province, also reacted, but in the opposite direction, writing on social networks that “it’s time.”
Nicolas Metzdorf, another pro-Franco politician from the same party, recalled that the arrests “were a necessary prerequisite for resuming negotiations on the future of New Caledonia”.
“But the dust has not yet settled; restoring law and order, while now possible, must continue to be strengthened.”
In the weekend, Kanak National Front congress postponedThe reason was the ongoing divisions between the various components of the pro-independence movement and the fact that the UC brought hundreds of CCAT members to the conference, a move that local organizers and the moderate FLNKS party considered a “security risk.”
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