PARIS (AP) — Police in the restive French Pacific region of New Caledonia on Wednesday arrested eight people, including an independence leader, suspected of playing a role in the deadly violence that has devastated the archipelago home to the indigenous Kanak people. has long been trying to break free from France.
The early morning raid was part of an ongoing police investigation launched on May 17, just days after unrest first broke out, in a wave of armed clashes, looting, fires and other violence that has hit parts of the capital Nouméa and its suburbs fell into a state of chaos. no-go zones.
New Caledonia’s prosecutor, Yves Dupas, said in a statement that eight people were detained as of 6 a.m. in Nouméa and the outskirts of Mont-Dore. He said those taken into custody include Christian Tein, a leader of a pro-independence group who French officials said played a leading role in weeks of violence that erupted in May over controversial voting reforms for New Caledonia. Dupas did not identify the seven other detainees.
The uprising prompted France to declare a state of emergency for the archipelago and quickly send reinforcements to police forces that were quickly overwhelmed. The violence led to nine deaths, including two gendarmes, and widespread destruction of shops, businesses and homes.
The prosecutor said Wednesday’s arrests are part of a police investigation into a wide range of suspected crimes, including complicity in murder and attempted murder, armed robbery, arson and membership of a group set up to prepare violent acts. The possible charges will allow investigators to hold detainees for questioning for up to 96 hours, he said. An investigating judge would then have to decide whether police have gathered enough evidence to justify formal charges.
With France engaged in a frenzied campaign for early parliamentary elections, French President Emmanuel Macron has suspended reforms that would have changed voting rights in New Caledonia.
With the unrest subsiding, France’s Pacific region this week shortened its curfew by two hours and shifted the start from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The international airport, which had been closed to commercial flights for more than a month, was also reopened.
