(Nouméa) Spectacular dragnet in pro-independence circles in New Caledonia: the leader of the movement suspected by the French authorities of having orchestrated the uprising against electoral reform was arrested on Wednesday with ten other people.
Head of the Field Action Coordination Unit (CCAT), Christian Tein and the ten others arrested were placed in police custody, Yves Dupas, prosecutor of Nouméa, capital of the French South Pacific territory, confirmed in a press release .
These suspects are being questioned as part of an investigation targeting “the alleged sponsors of the abuses committed […] from May 12, 2024” in the archipelago, the magistrate said.
This investigation targets in particular acts of criminal association, armed thefts by an organized gang, complicity by instigation of murders or attempted murders of persons holding public authority, detailed the magistrate.
As the Nouméa prosecutor recalled, the police custody which began on Wednesday can continue for 96 hours “in relation to acts relating to organized crime”.
Mr. Tein himself contacted the gendarmerie to be brought before the investigators “in order to explain the alleged facts”, according to Yves Dupas.
The operation, launched on Wednesday at 6 a.m. local time, comes five weeks after the start of the uprising which is shaking the territory, leading to the most serious violence since that of the 1980s.
This uprising began with the first violence on May 13, in reaction to the adoption in the National Assembly of a constitutional reform bill allowing a thaw of the electorate, which, according to its opponents, would further marginalize the indigenous people kanak.
To date, the violence has left nine dead, including two gendarmes, hundreds injured and considerable damage, costing an estimated 1.5 billion euros, according to the latest report.
The independence camp opposes the bill, which it accuses of wanting to reduce its political weight.
The reform, which still needed to be approved by the French parliament, was put on hold by the dissolution of the National Assembly decided by French President Emmanuel Macron after his camp’s defeat in the European elections on June 9.
If the intensity of the violence has reduced in recent days, allowing the reopening of the airport and schools on Monday, numerous roadblocks are still disrupting activity on the island, despite the reinforcement of 3,500 police and gendarmes.
In a letter sent to the inhabitants of the archipelago on Tuesday, Mr Macron once again demanded “the firm and definitive lifting of all roadblocks” and the “condemnation of violence without pretense”.
Since the start of the uprising, the CCAT has been suspected by the authorities of being the instigator of the violence. It was described as a “mafia organization” by the Minister of the Interior and Overseas Territories Gérald Darmanin.
The independence collective, whose leader Christian Tein was to hold a press conference on Wednesday morning, has always denied being at the origin of the unrest.
In a press release, the CCAT deplored the operation of the police on Wednesday, which “creates more doubts and tensions within the population”, describing it as “provocation”.
She asked her activists to “remain mobilized” while awaiting new instructions.
The Caledonian Union (UC, pro-independence) for its part denounced “abusive arrests while local anti-independence leaders and criminal militiamen strut around in complete freedom”.
CCAT offices, located in a building which also houses the headquarters of the UC, were the subject of a search, confirmed the prosecutor.
In the anti-independence camp, two movements, Les Loyalists and Rassemblement-LR, “took note” of the operation targeting the CCAT, recalling that the return to order constituted “the only condition for returning to dialogue sincere and constructive”.
“We have been heard,” rejoiced Nicolas Metzdorf, the outgoing Renaissance deputy (presidential majority).
“After a month of disarray, a return to the rule of law appears possible,” he added, “those who never denounced those responsible for the CCAT and who only had renunciation as their master word must feel very alone today”.
In the city center of Nouméa, a vast security perimeter has been set up in front of the gendarmerie headquarters where police custody takes place.
The surrounding streets were closed to traffic, AFP noted, and many stores, banks and several administrations decided to close their doors at the end of the morning.
