Barely reopened, immediately closed. The road which passes in front of the independence stronghold of Saint-Louis, in the south of New Caledonia, was closed this Sunday, October 6 after new violence occurred a few hours after its reopening. For the first time in two months, the Caledonian authorities re-authorized traffic on Saturday on the only road leading to the south of Grande Terre, the main island of the archipelago, undermined by insecurity.
This axis was closed by the police at the beginning of July due to 56 car thefts which had occurred there since June and the 330 gunshots suffered by the gendarmes in four months. On Saturday morning, the approximately 15,000 Caledonians who live in Mont-Dore and Yaté, south and east of Nouméa, were again authorized to use the road which crosses the tribe of Saint-Louis, between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Five hooded people
But despite the permanent deployment of six Centaur-type armored vehicles and 150 gendarmes, as well as road surveillance by drone, the first opening day was marked by a violent car theft on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. confirmed the gendarmerie.
The driver was violently taken out of his vehicle by five hooded people and injured by his attackers, said another gendarmerie source, without giving more details on the seriousness of the injuries. Half an hour earlier, another vehicle was hit by a stone, which damaged the door, noted an AFP correspondent. The road was therefore closed on Sunday.
Maritime shuttles set up
The reopening of the road was a strong request from local elected officials and local collectives, since 60% of the inhabitants of Mont-Dore, where the tribe is located, work outside their municipality. The High Commissioner of the Republic Louis Le Franc assured Saturday that the reopening of the road was a “priority”.
He told AFP that seven arrests had taken place in Saint-Louis this Sunday and specified that the road would reopen “when security conditions permit, in the form of escorted convoys”. While waiting for a return to normal, maritime shuttles, used every day by 3,800 people, have been set up.
A week ago, the funerals of two men, wanted by the police and who were killed on September 19 during a special gendarmerie operation, took place in the tribe. Five other people, also wanted, have since surrendered. Since the riots which hit New Caledonia in May, Saint-Louis, 1,200 inhabitants, remains the last stronghold of the independence struggle in the Nouméa metropolitan area.
Source: www.liberation.fr
