Recent violence in New Caledonia has prompted French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal to take the French territory in the Pacific Ocean off the globe-trotting itinerary of the Olympic torch, the minister for overseas territories, Marie Guévenoux, said Saturday. The torch was scheduled to journey to the archipelago on June 11, as it slowly makes its way to Paris for the July 26 opening ceremony of the Paris Games.
"Our security forces are extremely busy, extremely tired. The prime minister is led, responsibly, to take this decision," said Guévenoux, speaking to BFM-TV.
French security forces reported another death Saturday in armed clashes, the sixth fatality in nearly a week of violent unrest scorching the archipelago whose indigenous population has long sought independence. The person was killed in an exchange of fire at one of the many impromptu barricades blocking roads on the island.
The unrest erupted as the French legislature in Paris debated amending the French constitution to make changes to voter lists in New Caledonia. The Assemblée Nationale on Wednesday approved a bill that will, among other changes, allow residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years to cast ballots in provincial elections.
Armed clashes, looting, arson and other mayhem have turned parts of the capital, Nouméa, into no-go zones and left a vast trail of destruction. Charred hulks of burned-out cars litter roads, businesses and shops have been ransacked and buildings turned into smoking ruins, with fires sending billowing clouds of smoke into the South Pacific skies.
Despite a state of emergency imposed on the archipelago by the government in Paris and hundreds of reinforcements for security services that lost control of some neighborhoods, residents say violence continues to make venturing out perilous. Protesters have blockaded roads with barricades, as have residents banding together to protect their homes, neighborhoods and livelihoods.
Nouméa's mayor, Sonia Lagarde, said Saturday that while overnight violence has eased somewhat, with a 6 pm to 6 am curfew in effect, "we are far from a return to normal."
The state of emergency gives authorities greater powers to tackle violent protesters, including the possibility of house detention for people deemed a threat to public order and expanded powers to conduct searches, seize weapons and restrict movements, with possible jail time for violators. The last time France imposed such measures on one of its overseas territories was in 1985, also in New Caledonia, the Interior Ministry said.
The vast archipelago of about 270,000 people east of Australia is 10 time zones ahead of Paris. There have been decades of tensions on the archipelago between the Indigenous Kanak seeking independence and descendants of colonizers who want to remain part of France.