The head of the French Communist Party calls for granting New Caledonia "a form of independence"

-
The head of the French Communist Party, Fabien Roussel, called on Sunday for granting "a form of independence" to New Caledonia, which has been witnessing protests and violence.

Rosell said, "Whether it is New Caledonia or Polynesia, which is a French territory, I support these peoples taking their fate into their own hands and engaging in the process of decolonization, which must lead to some form of independence," as he put it.

"Those who live on the island today want to be able to live there together, and it is up to the people of New Caledonia to decide on that process," Rosell added.

The French politician stressed that we must push in this direction, even if that means organizing a fourth referendum on independence, and if this is what they decided, we must implement it.

Other French politicians had raised the idea of ​​this new referendum, especially the leader of the far-right National Rally party, Marine Le Pen, who said that she envisioned this process over a period of forty years.

Fabien Roussel nevertheless called for "the maintenance of close and peaceful fraternal relations with the Caledonian community", especially in matters of defence, believing that "if they were completely independent, they would not have the means to form their own army."

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin called for the implementation of a "major operation involving more than 600 gendarmes" on Sunday in New Caledonia to "restore" control of the road between the capital, Noumea, and its international airport.

The death toll from tension in the New Caledonia archipelago in the Pacific Ocean rose to six on  Saturday, according to the authorities, on the sixth day of riots and unrest that broke out against the backdrop of a controversial electoral reform, while the mayor of Noumea saw that the situation was “far from returning to calm,” speaking about "A city under siege."

These riots are the most dangerous in New Caledonia since the 1980s, and come against the backdrop of electoral reform that angered separatists. 

The state of emergency was imposed after opposition mounted against a constitutional reform aimed at expanding the number of people allowed to participate in local elections to include all those born in Caledonia and residing there for at least ten years. Independence advocates believe that this would "make the indigenous Kanak people even more of a minority."

The French authorities hope that the state of emergency in force since Thursday will reduce the violence that began Monday.