The military helicopter circled over Bourail on the morning of Saturday, May 25, drawing worried looks from market-goers. Would the gendarmes intervene on the pro-independence roadblock at the northern exit of this small rural New Caledonian town? "This would be the worst possible time, it's far too early," said Steave Novella. With his broad salt-and-pepper beard, light-blue eyes and jars of honey in his arms, this entrepreneur in his fifties said that "it would be better to talk." Because here "in the bush," 160 kilometers north of Nouméa, "things are going well and we don't want to see violence break out."

Since the outbreak of the insurrection on May 13, the west coast of Grande Terre has been living in anxious tension. Gas stations, post offices, schools, pharmacies and shops are all closed, and the market towns display the calm of Sundays in the countryside. But there's too little life in them for the atmosphere to be described as serene.

After the capital city, Nouméa, will the bush, which was the center of gravity for the "events" of 1984-1988, also catch fire? The question of insurrection spreading is on everyone's mind, following French President Emmanuel Macron's visit to the territory on Thursday, May 23. In the wake of announcements by a president who came to assure that he would not "force through" the reform of the electoral body, but repeated that he would go "to the referendum" if necessary, a seventh death was reported near Nouméa. The takeover of neighborhoods barricaded by rioters – Nouville, Kaméré, Magenta, Espérance and Tuband – got underway, in a climate of war.

Getting out of Nouméa and into Bourail remained extremely difficult on Friday. Around neighborhoods held by pro-independence activists or rioters, roadblocks forced motorists into an interminable obstacle course. The Savexpress, which serves the communes of Dumbéa and Païta, was blocked. There were burnt-out cars, asphalt impregnated with melted scrap metal and acrid fumes. The Portes de Fer were blocked. The Montravel ring road, from where you can see the Le Froid factory, destroyed 10 days earlier and still smoking, was also blocked. There was a forced U-turn at the junction of Montravel and Ducos, the large shopping area that was attacked and looted.

In the Magenta district, a previously cleared roadblock has reappeared, and the Normandie provincial road remains completely closed. In Païta, stoned youths have their trunks opened for a clumsy search. The tension in Dumbéa remains palpable. The driver asked everyone, to the riot police holding a position on a bridge, and to the militants on a traffic circle waving to passers-by under the green-blue-red colors of Kanaky: "It's ok, further up, it's good?"

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