Tag: france protests

French forces deploy to quell deadly New Caledonia unrest

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A protester waves the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) flag during a demonstration in support of Kanak people at Place de la Republique in Paris on May 16, 2024. France announced on May 16, 2024 that it would send additional security forces to New Caledonia after imposing a state of emergency, following three nights of clashes in its Pacific territory that have left five dead and hundreds wounded against a French plan to impose new voting rules on the archipelago have spiralled into the deadliest violence since the 1980s.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Hundreds of military and armed police reinforcements deployed Friday to the riot-scarred streets of France’s Pacific territory of New Caledonia, seeking to quell clashes that have left five people dead and hundreds injured.

Anger over France’s plan to impose new voting rules spiralled into the deadliest violence in four decades in the archipelago of 270,000 people, which lies between Australia and Fiji — 17,000 kilometres (10,600 miles) from Paris.

In Paris, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said about 1,000 extra security forces were being sent to New Caledonia — adding to the 1,700 already present — while authorities would push for “the harshest penalties for rioters and looters”.

Extra forces began landing Thursday at the French army-controlled La Tontouta International Airport and could be seen moving through the capital Noumea in red berets, toting rifles, gas masks and riot shields.

Using state of emergency powers, security forces had imposed “a calmer and more peaceful situation” around Noumea for the first time since the unrest started on Monday, according to the high commission representing the French state.

But there were “fires at a school and two companies”, it said in a statement Friday.

Smouldering buildings

On Friday morning, AFP journalists saw flames and smoke pouring from a shopping centre, smouldering buildings, dozens of burned-out cars and residents dragging the remnants of vehicles off the roads.

Hundreds of people lined up outside shops for desperately needed food and supplies.

The security reinforcements will impose order “where control is no longer assured”, High Commissioner of the Republic in New Caledonia Louis Le Franc told journalists in Noumea.

Security forces have placed 10 independence activists accused of organising violence under house arrest, according to authorities.

Two gendarmes have been killed: one shot in the head and a second shot in friendly fire, officials said.

Three other people — all Indigenous Kanaks — have also been killed: a 17-year-old and two men aged 20 and 36.

Smoke from fires set by rioters rises on the outskirts of Noumea on May 16, 2024, amid protests linked to a debate on a constitutional bill aimed at enlarging the electorate for upcoming elections of the overseas French territory of New Caledonia. France deployed troops to New Caledonia’s ports and international airport, banned TikTok and imposed a state of emergency on May 16 after three nights of clashes that have left four dead and hundreds wounded. Pro-independence, largely indigenous protests against a French plan to impose new voting rules on its Pacific archipelago have spiralled into the deadliest violence since the 1980s, with a police officer among several killed by gunfire.

Smoke from fires set by rioters rises on the outskirts of Noumea on May 16, 2024, amid protests linked to a debate on a constitutional bill aimed at enlarging the electorate for upcoming elections of the overseas French territory of New Caledonia. France deployed troops to New Caledonia’s ports and international airport, banned TikTok and imposed a state of emergency on May 16 after three nights of clashes that have left four dead and hundreds wounded. Pro-independence, largely indigenous protests against a French plan to impose new voting rules on its Pacific archipelago have spiralled into the deadliest violence since the 1980s, with a police officer among several killed by gunfire.
| Photo Credit:
AFP

Burning tyres

One person has been arrested on suspicion of killing two Kanaks, French authorities said. Another homicide suspect turned himself in on Friday, they said.

About 200 among an estimated 5,000 “rioters” have been detained, officials said.

Groups of Kanaks have set up roadblocks around the main island, waving the territory’s flag, burning tyres and blocking or slowing traffic.

Other mostly non-Indigenous residents, some armed, piled up garden chairs, crates and other belongings in neighbourhood barricades.

The violence is the worst seen in New Caledonia since violence involving independence radicals rocked the French overseas territory in the 1980s.

TikTok has been banned in New Caledonia under the state of emergency because it was being used by the protesters, authorities said.

The social media giant called the decision “regrettable” in a statement and said that “no request or question, no demand to withdraw content, had been made by local authorities or the French government”.

Between 80 and 90 percent of the grocery distribution network in Noumea — from shops to warehouses and wholesalers — has been “wiped out”, Chamber of Commerce and Industry president David Guyenne said.

The chamber has said about 200 million euros of damage has been carried out.

A burnt climbing wall is pictured in the Magenta district of Noumea on May 15, 2024 amid protests linked to a debate on a constitutional bill aimed at enlarging the electorate for upcoming elections of the overseas French territory of New Caledonia. More than 130 people have been arrested in New Caledonia as violent protests rock the French Pacific archipelago, the government said on May 15, 2024, as Paris adopted the constitutional reform that angered pro-independence forces.

A burnt climbing wall is pictured in the Magenta district of Noumea on May 15, 2024 amid protests linked to a debate on a constitutional bill aimed at enlarging the electorate for upcoming elections of the overseas French territory of New Caledonia. More than 130 people have been arrested in New Caledonia as violent protests rock the French Pacific archipelago, the government said on May 15, 2024, as Paris adopted the constitutional reform that angered pro-independence forces.
| Photo Credit:
AFP

Voting rules

While New Caledonia has on three occasions rejected independence in referendums, the cause retains strong support among the Kanak people, whose ancestors have lived on the islands for thousands of years.

Colonised by France from the second half of the 19th century, it has special status with some local powers that have been transferred from Paris.

French lawmakers this week pushed forward plans to allow outsiders who moved to New Caledonia at least 10 years ago to vote in the territory’s elections.

Pro-independence forces say that would dilute the vote of Kanaks, who make up about 40 percent of the population.

Voting reform must still be approved by a joint sitting of both houses of the French parliament.

President Emmanuel Macron has said French lawmakers will vote to adopt the constitutional change by the end of June unless New Caledonia’s opposing sides can strike a new deal.

But a videoconference between Mr. Macron and New Caledonian lawmakers planned for Thursday was cancelled as “the different players did not want to speak to one another”, his office said.

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France seeks answers as Macron declares riots ‘peak’ passed

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France’s President Emmanuel Macron addresses mayors of cities affected by the violent clashes that erupted after a teen was shot dead by police last week, during a meeting at the presidential Elysee Palace in Paris, France on July 4, 2023.
| Photo Credit: VIA REUTERS

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday met with hundreds of French officials to begin exploring the “deeper reasons” for the country’s plunge into riots after the killing of a teenager at a traffic stop.

The Elysee palace meeting with around 250 mayors, whose municipalities suffered damage over a week of violence, comes as the authorities reported a much calmer night across the country.

“Is it a permanent return to calm? I will be cautious, but the peak that we’ve seen in previous days has passed,” Mr. Macron said, according to a participant.

“We all want a lasting, republican order,” he said. “That’s the absolute priority.”

The government has battled riots and looting since 17-year-old Nahel M. was killed by an officer during a traffic stop on Tuesday just outside Paris, rekindling long-standing accusations of systemic racism among security forces.

Overnight violence in French cities had halved in 24 hours, the Interior Ministry said, with 72 people arrested overnight nationwide.

That included 24 arrested in and around Paris, where the riots first broke out.

The Interior Ministry said dozens of buildings were damaged — including attacks on four offices of police or gendarmes — but there were no injuries.

More than 150 vehicles had been set ablaze, and hundreds of fires started in rubbish bins or other public areas.

Police mobilisation had been kept at the same level as the two previous nights, at 45,000 across France.

Mayors across France had held rallies Monday calling for an end to the violent clashes.

Their call for a “return to republican order” came after the home of the mayor of a Paris suburb was rammed with a burning car, prompting widespread outrage.

In an overnight tweet, Mr. Macron thanked police, gendarmes and firefighters for their “extraordinary mobilisation in these recent nights”, after meeting with police late Monday.

At the gathering of mayors, Mr. Macron was hoping to “start the painstaking, long-term work needed to understand the deeper reasons that led to these events”, an official at the President’s office said.

Just under 4,000 arrests have been made since Friday, including more than 1,200 minors, according to Justice Ministry figures.

Mr. Macron raised the idea of handing out quick-fire fines to the parents of children caught for vandalism or robberies.

“With the first crime, we need to find a way of sanctioning the families financially and easily,” he said, according to comments reported by the Parisien newspaper.

French businesses were meanwhile counting the cost of the seven nights of rioting which left countless shops and other outlets vandalised.

“They destroyed everything,” said Alexandre Manchon, who works in a tobacconist’s in the southern city of Marseille which has seen some of the worst looting.

“None of this is our doing, we are just working people who get up at five in the morning so we can feed our children and families,” he told AFP.

Despite the fall in violent incidents “everybody worries that it may be a false calm”, said Abdelhamid Faddeoui, who runs private security firm Aetos Securite Privee.

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“Most of my clients are maintaining a high level of protection.”

Employers’ organisations called on the government to create an emergency fund “for those who lost everything”.

Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Tuesday the government may allow businesses in the riots to suspend tax and social security payments as they rebuild.

Police meanwhile said it questioned one of the passengers in the car driven by Nahel M., who had turned himself in, to find out more about the exact circumstances of the shooting.

The policeman who fired the lethal shot remained in custody Tuesday, charged with homicide.

An online collection for the family of the 38-year old, launched by far-right figure Jean Messiha, has gathered more 1.4 million euros ($1.5 million), sparking outrage among the political left.

“It pays to kill a young Arab,” tweeted Manon Aubry, a European Parliament deputy for the hard-left LFI party.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne also expressed her unease with the initiative, saying it did not “contribute to calming the situation”.

A fund to support the family of Nahel has run to just under 346,000 euros.

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France faces fifth night of rioting over teen’s killing by police, signs of subsiding violence

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A French firefighter works to extinguish a burning car during the fifth day of protests following the death of Nahel, a 17-year-old teenager killed by a French police officer in Nanterre during a traffic stop, in Tourcoing, France, on July 2, 2023.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Young rioters clashed with police late Saturday and early Sunday and targeted a mayor’s home with a burning car as France faced a fifth night of unrest sparked by the police killing of a teenager, but overall violence appeared to lessen compared to previous nights.

Police made 719 arrests nationwide by early Sunday after a mass security deployment aimed at quelling France’s worst social upheaval in years.

Also read | Youths clash with police near Paris after teenager shot dead in traffic stop

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The fast-spreading crisis is posing a new challenge to President Emmanuel Macron’s leadership and exposing deep-seated discontent in low-income neighborhoods over discrimination and lack of opportunity.

The 17-year-old whose death Tuesday spawned the anger, identified by his first name Nahel, was laid to rest Saturday in a Muslim ceremony in his hometown of Nanterre, a Paris suburb where emotion over his loss remains raw.

As night fell over the French capital, a small crowd gathered on the Champs-Elysees for a protest over Nahel’s death and police violence but met hundreds of officers with batons and shields guarding the iconic avenue and its Cartier and Dior boutiques. In a less-chic neighborhood of northern Paris, protesters set off volleys of firecrackers and lit barricades on fire as police shot back with tear gas and stun grenades.

A burning car hit the home of the mayor of the Paris suburb of l’Hay-les-Roses overnight. Several schools, police stations, town halls and stores have been targeted by fires or vandalism in recent days but such a personal attack on a mayor’s home is unusual.

Skirmishes erupted in the Mediterranean city of Marseille but appeared less intense than the night before, according to the Interior Ministry. A beefed-up police contingent arrested 55 people there.

Nationwide arrests were somewhat lower than the night before, which Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin attributed to “the resolute action of security forces.”

Some 2,800 people have been detained overall since Nahel’s death on Tuesday. The mass police deployment has been welcomed by some frightened residents of targeted neighborhoods and shopowners whose stores have been ransacked — but it has further frustrated those who see police behavior as the core of France’s current crisis.

The unrest took a toll on Mr. Macron’s diplomatic standing. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s office said Macron phoned Saturday to request a postponement of what would have been the first state visit by a French president to Germany in 23 years. Mr. Macron had been scheduled to fly to Germany on Sunday.

Hundreds of French police and firefighters have been injured in the violence that erupted after the killing, though authorities haven’t released injury tallies of protesters. In French Guiana, an overseas territory, a 54-year-old died after being hit by a stray bullet.

Police hold young people against a vehicle during the fifth night of protests following the death of Nahel, a 17-year-old teenager killed by a French police officer in Nanterre during a traffic stop, in the Champs Elysees area, in Paris, France, on July 2, 2023.

Police hold young people against a vehicle during the fifth night of protests following the death of Nahel, a 17-year-old teenager killed by a French police officer in Nanterre during a traffic stop, in the Champs Elysees area, in Paris, France, on July 2, 2023.
| Photo Credit:
Reuters

On Saturday, France’s justice minister, Dupond-Moretti, warned that young people who share calls for violence on Snapchat or other apps could face legal prosecution. Macron has blamed social media for fueling violence.

The violence comes just over a year before Paris and other French cities are due to host Olympic athletes and millions of visitors for the summer Olympics, whose organizers were closely monitoring the situation as preparations for the competition continue.

At a hilltop cemetery in Nanterre, hundreds stood along the road Saturday to pay tribute to Nahel as mourners carried his white casket from a mosque to the burial site. His mother, dressed in white, walked inside the cemetery amid applause and headed toward the grave. Many of the men were young and Arab or Black, coming to mourn a boy who could have been them.

This week, Nahel’s mother told France 5 television that she was angry at the officer who shot her son at a traffic stop, but not at the police in general.

“He saw a little Arab-looking kid. He wanted to take his life,” she said. Nahel’s family has roots in Algeria.

Video of the killing showed two officers at the window of the car, one with his gun pointed at the driver. As the teenager pulled forward, the officer fired once through the windshield. The officer accused of killing Nahel was given a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide.

Thirteen people who didn’t comply with traffic stops were fatally shot by French police last year, and three this year, prompting demands for more accountability. France also saw protests against police violence and racial injustice after George Floyd’s killing by police in Minnesota.

The reaction to the killing was a potent reminder of the persistent poverty, discrimination and limited job prospects in neighborhoods around France where many residents trace their roots to former French colonies — like where Nahel grew up.

A French firefighter works to extinguish a burning motorbike during the fifth day of protests following the death of Nahel, a 17-year-old teenager killed by a French police officer in Nanterre during a traffic stop, in Paris, France, on July 2, 2023.

A French firefighter works to extinguish a burning motorbike during the fifth day of protests following the death of Nahel, a 17-year-old teenager killed by a French police officer in Nanterre during a traffic stop, in Paris, France, on July 2, 2023.
| Photo Credit:
Reuters

“Nahel’s story is the lighter that ignited the gas. Hopeless young people were waiting for it. We lack housing and jobs, and when we have (jobs), our wages are too low,” said Samba Seck, a 39-year-old transportation worker in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois.

Clichy was the birthplace of weeks of riots in 2005 that shook France, prompted by the death of two teenagers electrocuted in a power substation while fleeing from police. One of the boys lived in the same housing project as Seck.

New violence targeted his town this week. As he spoke, the remains of a burned car stood beneath his apartment building, and the town hall entrance was set alight in rioting Friday.

“Young people break everything, but we are already poor, we have nothing,” he said. Still, he said he understood the rioters’ anger, adding that “young people are afraid to die at the hands of police.”

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France braces for new violence as teen laid to rest

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Protesters run from launched tear gas canisters during clashes with police in Marseille, southern France on July 1, 2023, after a fourth consecutive night of rioting in France over the killing of a teenager by police.
| Photo Credit: AFP

French authorities on July 1 (Saturday) prepared for a fifth consecutive night of rioting by sending reinforcements to flashpoint cities as the 17-year-old whose killing by a policeman sparked the violent protests was laid to rest.

Police arrested 1,311 people overnight Friday to Saturday, the highest figure since the violent protests began over the point-blank killing by a policeman of Nahel M. in the Paris suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday.

Shops were ransacked and town halls attacked in various locations nationwide by gangs, often made up of teens organised on social media and armed with fireworks.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told reporters that 45,000 members of the security forces would be deployed overnight Saturday to Sunday — the same number as the night before — but with additional forces and equipment sent to Lyon, Grenoble and Marseille which saw the worst rioting the previous night.

Numbers would be “considerably reinforced” in these cities “in order to completely restore republican order”, Mr. Darmanin said.

The protests over the death of the teen, who was of Algerian origin, have again exposed the severe racial tensions in modern France and increased scrutiny on the police who have long been accused of singling out minorities.

The crisis is a hugely unwelcome development for President Emmanuel Macron, who was looking forward to pressing on with his second mandate after seeing off protests that erupted in January over raising the pensions age.

In a sign of the seriousness of the crisis, he postponed a state visit to Germany scheduled to begin Sunday.

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The German Presidency announced that Mr. Macron spoke by telephone with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier “and informed him of the situation in his country”.

Nahel’s funeral ceremony began in the Paris suburb of Nanterre where he lived, with a large crowd gathering in a tense atmosphere with the youths present not wanting their faces photographed by media, an AFP reporter said.

A ceremony took place in the early afternoon at the mosque in Nanterre with the interment taking place in the giant Mont Valerien cemetery in the area.

It finished at 1530 GMT and was marked by “reflection and without incidents”, a witness told AFP.

In a rare intervention on a social issue, the French national football team, many of whose top players are of minority background, joined calls for an end to the clashes.

“The time of violence must give way to that of mourning, dialogue and reconstruction,” the team said in a statement posted on social media by captain and Paris Saint-Germain superstar Kylian Mbappe.

In a bid to limit the violence, buses and trams in France have stopped running after 9:00 p.m. (1900 GMT) and the sale of large fireworks and inflammable liquids has been banned.

The southern port city of Marseille has been the scene of clashes and looting from the centre and further north in the long-neglected low-income neighbourhoods that Mr. Macron visited at the start of the week.

Authorities in Marseille are going a step further by halting all urban transport from 6:00 p.m., including metros, and banning all protests up until Sunday.

Police reinforcements have been sent to the city, including armoured vehicles and two helicopters.

Mr. Macron has urged parents to take responsibility for underage rioters, one-third of whom were “young or very young”.

Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti said on Saturday that 30% of those arrested were minors while Mr. Darmanin said the average age of those arrested was just 17.

The unrest has raised concerns abroad, with France hosting the Rugby World Cup in the autumn and the Paris Olympic Games in the summer of 2024.

Britain and other European countries updated their travel advice to warn tourists to stay away from areas affected by the rioting.

The unrest has had a major impact on cultural events in France with singer Mylene Farmer forced to cancel stadium concerts and French fashion house Celine cancelling its menswear show in Paris scheduled for this weekend.

A 38-year-old policeman has been charged with voluntary homicide over the teenager’s death and has been remanded in custody.

The UN rights office said on Friday that the killing of the teen of North African descent was “a moment for the country to seriously address the deep issues of racism and racial discrimination in law enforcement”.

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French government survives no-confidence votes over pensions

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A protester stands in front of French Gendarmes during a demonstration a few days after the government pushed a pensions reform through parliament without a vote, using the article 49,3 of the constitution in Strasbourg on March 20, 2023. – The French government survived two no-confidence motions in parliament on March 20, 2023 but still faces intense pressure over its handling of a controversial pensions reform.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Parliament adopted a divisive pension bill Monday raising the retirement age in France from 62 to 64, after lawmakers in the lower chamber rejected two no-confidence votes against the government.

But the bill pushed through by President Emmanuel Macron without lawmakers’ approval still faces a review by the Constitutional Council before it can be signed into law. The council has the power to reject articles within bills but usually approves them.

The first no-confidence motion, proposed by a small centrist group with support across the left, narrowly missed approval by National Assembly lawmakers Monday afternoon, garnering 278 of the 287 votes needed to pass. The second motion, brought by the far-right National Rally, won just 94 votes in the chamber.

Also read |Explained | Why is France seeing widespread protests over Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms? 

Macron’s centrist alliance has more seats than any other group in the lower chamber.

The speaker of the National Assembly, Yael Braun-Pivet, said the failure of both votes means parliament has adopted the pension bill.

Yet this is not the end of the complex path to turn the bill into law. Opponents said they would ask the Constitutional Council to review the text before it is formally promulgated, opening the door to the possible rejection of articles within the measure if they are not in line with the constitution. Far-right leader Marine Le Pen said she would ask the council to censure it.

Macron, who has remained silent since his decision to push the bill through last week, will meet Tuesday morning with Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and the leaders of his centrist alliance.

After the first vote Monday, some leftist lawmakers called for Borne to resign.

“Only nine votes are missing … to bring both the government down and its reform down,” hard-left lawmaker Mathilde Panot said. “The government is already dead in the eyes of the French, it doesn’t have any legitimacy any more.”

The Senate, dominated by conservatives who back the retirement plan, approved the legislation last week.

The head of The Republicans’ lawmakers, Olivier Marleix, earlier explained why his group would reject the motions.

“We acknowledge the need for a reform to save our pension system and defend retirees’ purchasing power,” he said during the debate Monday afternoon. A minority of conservatives lawmakers strayed from the party line and voted in favor of the first motion.

Centrist lawmaker Charles de Courson, whose allies introduced the motion supported by the left, deplored the government’s decision to use a special constitutional power to skirt a vote on the pension bill last week.

“How can we accept such contempt for parliament? How can we accept such conditions to examine a text which will have lasting effects on the lives of millions of our fellow citizens?” he exclaimed.

France, like many richer nations, has a low birth rate and its citizens have longer life expectancy.

The tensions in the political arena have been echoed on the streets, marked by intermittent protests and strikes in various sectors, including transportation, energy and sanitation workers. Garbage in Paris has piled ever higher and reeked of rotting food on the 15th day of a strike by collectors. The three main incinerators serving the French capital have been mostly blocked, as has a garbage sorting center northwest of Paris.

On Monday, hundreds of mainly young protesters gathered by Les Invalides, the final resting place of Napoleon, to demonstrate against pension reform. Some trash bins were set on fire in early evening, but the protest was otherwise calm. Participants listened to the proceedings in the National Assembly through a channel broadcast on loudspeaker from a union van.

“The goal is to support the workers on strike in Paris … to put pressure on this government that wants to pass this unjust, brutal and useless and ineffective law,” said Kamel Brahmi, of the leftist CGT union, speaking to workers with a bullhorn at the Romainville sorting plant.

Some refineries that supply gas stations also are at least partially blocked, and Transport Minister Clement Beaune said on France-Info radio Monday that he would take action if necessary to ensure that fuel still gets out.

Opinion polls show a large majority of the French oppose raising the retirement age.

Economic challenges have prompted unrest across Western Europe, where many countries have low birthrates, leaving fewer young workers to sustain pensions for retirees. Spain’s leftist government joined with labor unions last week to announce a “historic” deal to save its pension system.

Spain’s Social Security Minister José Luis Escrivá said the French have a very different, unsustainable model. Spain’s workers already must stay on the job until at least 65 and won’t be asked to work longer — instead, their new deal increases employer contributions for higher-wage earners.

The reform in France also would require 43 years of work to earn a full pension at 64, otherwise workers would still have to wait until they turn 67.

Unions in France have called for new nationwide protests on Thursday to demand the government simply withdraw the retirement bill.

“I know the questions and concerns that this reform is raising. I know what it asks of many of our fellow citizens,” Borne said Monday. Macron vowed to push the pension plan through, she said, out of “transparency” and “responsibility,” because it is needed to keep the system from diving into deficit amid France’s aging population.

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