Two men were killed during a French security forces operation in New Caledonia overnight, raising the death toll to 13 after four months of unrest. Clashes continue in Saint Louis, a stronghold of the independence movement south of Noumea, as tensions persist in the French Pacific territory.
Two men were killed during an operation by French security forces in New Caledonia overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, authorities said, taking the death toll to 13 after four months of unrest in the French Pacific territory.
Clashes between French police and civilians were ongoing in Saint Louis, a heartland of the independence movement just south of the capital Noumea, an AFP journalist reported.
"The second shot hit a man, aged 29, in the chest," public prosecutor Yves Dupas said, hours after the first man was killed in Saint-Louis.
Police are looking for around a dozen local people suspected of involvement in attacks on security forces.
"We're not terrorists, we're not in a state of war," said one mother in the village where the security operation was ongoing on Thursday.
Unrest broke out in mid-May in New Caledonia, almost 17,000 kilometres (10,600 miles) from Paris, over a planned expansion of the electoral roll that indigenous Kanak people fear would leave them in a permanent minority, crushing their hopes for independence.
Some barricaded roads and burned or looted cars, businesses and public buildings, prompting Paris to send thousands of troops and police in response.
The electoral change -- which requires altering the French constitution -- has effectively been in limbo since President Emmanuel Macron dissolved parliament for new elections that in July produced a lower house with no clear majority.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
